Pakistan railways is possibly the biggest land owner in the country and is therefore equally most vulnerable to land-grab. Encroachment on large parcels of its precious land has been the subject of umpteenth inquiries and court cases, and yet the department has not been able to fully recoup its property over the decades. Adding to its problems is rapid urbanisation, which has increased the rural to urban population inflow, touching off the expansion of slums. These shantytowns are often sited on railways land, lying vacant and unprotected, as vagrants and labour class moving from the rural hinterlands to the urban centres find it a convenient place of refuge. Periodic eviction drives and the threat of the bulldozer have only partly succeeded in tackling the problem.
But encroachment is not the only issue bedevilling the mammoth railways. Its land is also officially leased out but often on badly-negotiated terms. The lessees sometimes don’t vacate the department’s assets once the term of lease expires. These and other assorted disputes ultimately land in courts of law. And then the litigation drags on for years and years, with private parties benefitting from long stay orders. So, when our Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid gushes about Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar’s recent ruling ordering the authorities to clear all pending cases of the railways in the next two months, he does so with understandable relief.
Terming the CJP’s order a lifeline for the railways, he says the department has received a head start after 28 years. Railways is currently facing more than 1,600 cases in civil and other courts and Justice Nisar has directed all the courts to decide each and every pending case and vacate the stay orders given to different individuals and companies. Majority of the cases were linked to the railways land. He candidly acknowledged that black sheep in the department must have been involved in such scams, and said “we have to go after them.” Let us wait and watch how things pan out over the next two months.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2018.
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