MULTAN:Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways Muhammad Mueen Wattoo asked the Railways authorities to come up with solid proposals to improve the operations and services of Pakistan Railways and suggested that one Railways division should be developed as a role model and be replicated on all divisions across the country.
He expressed these views during the meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways that began with the recitation from the Holy Quran at the committee room of the Divisional Superintendent Railways, Multan division on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Railways informed the committee that 46 out of 230 coaches imported from China have reached Pakistan and running on the track.
The NA committee approved the minutes of its meeting held on Nov 23, 2022, and discussed the implementation status of the previous recommendations placed by the Ministry of Railways.
Mueen Wattoo said that one division should be focused and made a role model for other divisions for their own improvement. It could be Multan Railways division, he said in response to a proposal from a member of the committee.
On the report submitted by the Ministry of Railways about the Calling Attention Notice moved by MNA Qadir Khan Mandokhail regarding handing over the administration of Railways school near Kala Pull, Karachi to TCF/ICWS, the committee discussed it in detail but the mover who participated via video link was not satisfied, so the committee decided to hold the meeting at Karachi for a site visit in near future to decide the matter.
Divisional Superintendent (DS) Railways Multan, in a briefing, informed that 2,236 acre land of Railways was encroached in Multan division for residential, commercial, agriculture, and govt departments whereas 5,666 acre land was leased out by Railways for different purposes like agriculture, Kachi Abbadies, and commercial, etc.
Responding to a query, DS Multan said commercial encroachment of 89 acre in Multan division could not be got vacated due to litigation. The committee, however, emphasized on its previous direction that the encroached Railways land being used for commercial purposes should be got vacated by using all means, and the Ministry of Railways, Director General Property & Land, and legal directorate were directed to approach the higher courts for the vacation and stay orders.
DS Multan informed that during the year 2021-22, 24.47 acre land, including 9.10 acre commercial land was retrieved from the land grabbers. Ministry of Railways has given two and half month time to all divisions of Railways to retrieve encroached land.
The committee also took the notice of the billboards installed without permission yielding no taxable income and recommended bringing them under the tax net.
The committee was briefed that Railways tracks in Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab were damaged badly at 10 locations due to floods but were rehabilitated from the resources of Pakistan Railways.
DS Railways, Lahore informed the committee that the matter for de-sealing of the shops was under process as the occupants of shops were asked by Railways to deposit a fixed amount along with an affidavit as per the approved rent policy. Ministry of Railways informed the Committee that the legal advisor was hired through proper procedure.
CEO Railways Salman Sadiq said they were about to start two new trains from Rawalpindi to Karachi via Sahiwal junction by end of January 2023.
Mueen Wattoo said, there must be some strategy to overpower problems and achieve targets under a time frame.
MNAs Chaudhry Hamid Hameed, Muhammad Khan Daha, Ramesh Lal, Dr Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, Pir Syed Fazal Ali Shah, besides ministry officials, attended the meeting.