Pakistan Railways: Parliamentary panel against railways job cuts

Standing committee inquires about closure of different train routes.

LAHORE: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Railways opposed on Saturday any move to initiate downsizing in Pakistan Railways.

Chairman of the committee Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said there were speculations that railways authorities were preparing to fire 5,000 permanent and 5,000 contractual workers, adding that if downsizing was necessary, it should start from the top.

The railway’s administration, he said, had assured the committee that workers would not be terminated simultaneously. “There is a new policy to not hire new employees after the retirement of employees. This will resolve the issue automatically,” Sadiq said. The committee also inquired about the closure of various trainservices. “We are not in favour of trains which are incurring losses continuously,” Sadiq said. However, he said that the administration must consult parliamentarians concerned before taking a final decision in this regard and brief them about an alternative plan.

“We are answerable to the public and not to Pakistan Railways. All public interest decisions should be made after taking parliamentarians into confidence,” he said. “If train services are discontinued without consulting us, I will be (forced to) table a privilege motion in the National Assembly,” Sadiq added.

He said it was unfortunate that over the past six months, railways had received just Rs1.2 billion out of an approved federal government package of Rs13 billion.

Sadiq attributed the suspension in fuel supply from Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on the railways’ inability to pay its dues. At least Rs1 billion is needed to ensure an uninterrupted fuel supply, he said.

The chairman added that there was no need to import new locomotives, adding that there were as many as 149 locomotives parked in various sheds, needing repairs. Pakistan Railways had the capacity to repair 12 locomotives a month, he said.

Referring to the issue of encroachments, the administration briefed the lawmakers that 4,949 acres of land had been encroached by various land grabbing groups and up to 403 acres was occupied by “kachchi abadis.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th,  2011.