Pakistan Railways: Finance ministry releases Rs1b for salaries, pension
A senior official from the ministry said that the amount was released despite a serious financial crunch.
The release comes after two-day protests by railway workers, who had brought the department to a standstill over non-payment of their salaries.
(Read: Cash-strapped: Railway pensioners go unpaid for 5 months)
However, ministry officials believe that it is only a stopgap solution. They said cash-strapped Pakistan Railways was in a perpetual crisis and that plans for its revival have not yet been implemented.
Finance ministry sources added that railways officials were demanding Rs7 billion for the crisis-hit department.
(Read: Pakistan Railways: Unpaid workers disrupt rail and road services)
Earlier, the workers who had vowed to continue the strike until their salaries were paid ended the strike for a night after Divisional Personnel Officer Tariq Sipra talked to them.
Sipra asked them to call off the strike for the night and resume it today (Tuesday). He said he was unable to tell them for sure when their salaries would be released.
PR operations came to a standstill on Monday as protesting workers lined themselves up on the tracks to block the engines at many stations throughout the country to register their protest over the non-payment of salaries, whereas schedule of many trains got disrupted causing immense nuisance to the passengers.
The protesters blocked the engines at Railway Diesel Engine Workshop Karachi; therefore, no train could manage to obtain locomotive, severely disrupting the departures of many trains.
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you guys are all fools now you want to privatise the railway when General Musharaf and Shukat Aziz spoke of privatising all the organizations that are eating up the budget for many years everyone talked about soveregnity and called them corrupt now when the depaartments are on the urge of dieing you want to privitise it shame on you
musharaf for president and shaukat aziz for prime minister again
If they keep releasing billions here and a billions there we can say good-bye to the budget!
Every time there is a crisis, the budget is called upon to release money. That is NOT the way to solve the problem!
Time to sell the railway lines , the station roofs etc as scrap iron to pay the salaries. The railways remind of British-India and are not right for Pakistan. The end is near. selling the railway tracks now will save money in disposing costs later.
Why is the government throwing good money on this inefficient and corrupt organisation.Let it die it's natural death or privatise it.
just close 60% this railways.. its a useless white elephant. run smaller efficient networks