Ive been working at the rail road: Union protests privatisation of Pakistan Railways

Railway staff fear they will go the same way the KESC workers did.

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Railways Employees Union (CBA) protested against the proposed privatisation of the Railways on Tuesday.

“The privatisation of public sector units has always had a negative impact and particularly in public services, this was proven by the privatisation of KESC,” said the head of the Pakistan Railways CBA union, Haji Matloob Khan, while addressing the employees at the City Railway Station.

He alleged that the real problem was corruption at higher levels of the railways administration, and demanded that the government investigate this.

The union leader claimed that Pakistan Railways is running at a loss of Rs62 billion per annum due to mismanagement and corruption.

Other union leaders commented that it was unfortunate that a national institution which has served the nation during peace and war times was today facing a financial crisis because of its senior officers.

They reiterated that the downsizing and privatisation of railways will be resisted at all costs. The Railways currently has 80,000 employees across the country.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2011.