Rail traffic between Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan resumed Sunday afternoon, after standing still, at various Sukkur railway stations, for nine hours. The locomotive running staff went on strike to protest the collapse of a railway quarter roof, in Rohri, early this morning.
The accident claimed the life of a small girl and injured two others. The quarters, which was the official residence of an assistant train driver, Zafar Ahmed Khan, collapsed in an explosion which killed his daughter, Muqadus, 10. His two other children, Hira, 8, and Tauheed, 12, were injured and had to be taken to the railway hospital in Sukkur.
After the tragic incident, the train drivers went on strike. Moreover, the entire staff of the locomotive shed also went on a tool-down strike and thus all trains travelling between Rohri, Sukkur, Khairpur, Mirpur Mathelo, Pano Aqil and Sanghi had to halt at the closest railway stations.
Passengers in the night coach, Allama Iqbal Express, Fareed Express and Sukkur Express were irked by the stop at the Rohri railway station. They staged protest demonstrations and attacked the platform railway offices. They forced their way into the offices of the station master and assistant station master and broke furniture and fixtures. In the meantime, the railway authorities requested a retired driver, to run the Allama Iqbal Express, but the remaining railway staff did not agree to help.
The train driver union’s general secretary, Ali Haider Chachar, told The Express Tribune that the railway officers were corrupt and had been usurping funds that were meant for repairs. “Repairs of railway quarters have not been done in 20 years,” he said. “The department has been deducting up to Rs3,000 each month from their salaries for living in the railway quarters, but the quality of the quarters is not worth it.” Chachar said that the union was demanding that a case be registered against the officers and the affected train driver be compensated Rs500,000. He said that their protest would continue till their demands were met.
Sukkur railway’s divisional superintendent, Roshan Ali Mangi, began negotiations with the union, at the Rohri railway station, and was with them for two hours. The administration accepted the union’s demands and the strike was called off at 3:30 pm.
The three officers were transferred out of the Sukkur division and a case was registered against those in charge of the works division. The administration has agreed to compensate the affected family with Rs300,000, and all quarters in dangerous conditions, throughout the Sukkur division, would be demolished, said Chachar once the trains had started running again.
Mangi said that a survey would be conducted throughout the division and union office bearers would also be included in the committee for the repair and maintenance.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2011.
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