NA committee displeased over railways minister’s absence

National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways on Wednesday expressed its displeasure over the absence of the relevant minister, and the issue of officials’ inattention to a 17-year-old contract also came to light.

The meeting of the standing committee was held under the chairmanship of Moeen Wattoo.

On behalf of MNA Qadir Mandokhel, a notice was presented to the committee to draw attention to the fact that a railways school in a posh area of Karachi had been handed over to an NGO and Insaf Welfare Foundation.

“Were these schools handed over to NGOs to collect money or for education? The contract of this school has expired. How did you get Insaf Welfare Foundation with an NGO to lease this school?” he remarked.

Wattoo wondered what benefits the department was getting from this 8-acre property. “Will visit and see the whole matter in the next meeting,” he added.

Mandokhel told the committee that there was a call from the President's House, on whose pressure the agreement of this school was extended.

In the railway committee in 2004, the issue of the contract of cranes on the hills of Sargodha was also raised in the committee.

The railway officials alleged that a private crushing company supplied less material, to which Najam Abbas, the owner of the private company, told the committee that everything was entered in the accounts to the railways on his behalf.

In addition to this, railways filed a case in 2008 in which they were acquitted, he added.

Officials said that an application has been submitted to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on this issue for action, but no response came out when the members of the committee questioned the authorities.

The matter was deferred till the next committee meeting.