Theft of railway equipment at all-time high
Given the country’s railways steady decline over the past few decades, it would not be amiss to think that strict check and balances are in place; however, the upsurge in theft of railway tracks and other equipment shows otherwise.
During the past 4 years, theft of the Pakistan Railways’ assets has increased at an alarming rate with most of the incidents taking place in Sindh and Balochistan. According to details obtained by the Express Tribune from a briefing given to the government by railway officials, assets worth Rs 88.581 million have been stolen since 2018 - these include railway tracks, fish plates, rods, and heating bolts. Furthermore, the report revealed that most of these incidents of theft have been reported on the Rohri-Karachi and Quetta-bound tracks.
Former inspector general (IG) Railway Police, Ahmed Naseem, commenting on the upsurge in theft, said that this was not a new issue. “The railway department has always struggled with theft but the increase is definitely alarming.” Naseem was of the view that such incidents would keep happening until the Railway Police force was properly equipped. “All the plans that were launched for effective patrolling reform of our police have not been implemented and we are seeing the consequences of that in real time,” the former IG remarked. Similarly, retired IG Railway Police, Munir Ahmad Chishti, who spent a better part of his career in the railway force, concurred with Naseem that theft was the department Achilles’ heel for a long while. “In the British Raj, there used to be 24-hour patrolling of the tracks but that is not the case today because the department lacks resources,” Chishti explained, adding that only providing more resources would prevent track derailment and iron theft.
Chishti, like Naseem, was of the view that successive governments had failed to implement any reforms and had subjected the department to doom. The new IG of Railway Police, Dr Rao Sardar Ali Khan, agreed that the upsurge in theft was alarming as during the last 4 years 1,067 cases of theft have been registered. However, the IG was optimistic about the department’s performance stating that Railway Police was taking immediate action against the accused.
“This year alone there are 334 cases. However, we have managed to arrest 390 accused and recover Rs 6.468 million from them. Other cases will be traced soon as well” The Express Tribune also spoke to Federal Minister of Railways, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, and asked about the lack of implementation of reforms; to which Rafiq replied that he had made railways a profitable institution in his previous government but his successors had ruined the gains made. “The process of reforming the railway police is being restarted now. We will implement effective measures to prevent the rising theft of railway tracks,” the minister assured.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2022.