Railways employees to get salaries, pension on Wednesday

ISLAMABAD, : Railways employees would get pension and salaries on October 19 in the wake of a successful meeting convened by President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari on crisis in Pakistan Railways. Addressing a press conference here Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour Tuesday said that the President has directed the finance division to release Rs. one billion immediate to Pakistan Railways for payment of salaries and pension. Expressing gratitude to the President of Pakistan, he said the President was  very kind as he had not only convened the meeting but also paid attention to the problems of Pakistan Railways and also issued immediate orders for rehabilitation of Railways.

He said the President ordered constitution of a committee comprising the  representatives from public-private sector to sort out how to bring Pakistan  Railways out of crisis.
He said that the President was informed that Pakistan Railways was paying  Rs. 4.6 billion annually to State Bank of Pakistan under the head of interest on  Rs. 40 billion borrowing.

He said the President took notice of it and asked the finance division to  check out how this burden of interest could be eased.
The Minister said that Pakistan Railways revenue was declining consecutively  from last three years, adding that it was Rs. 22 billion in year 2009, Rs. 18 billion in 2010 and Rs. 12 billion is estimated for the current fiscal year.
It seems difficult in current situation to achieve estimated Rs. 12 billion revenue for the current fiscal year, he remarked.
The Minister said continuous decline in revenue, increase in fares of passengers and freight and non availability of locomotives for freight resulted  in non payment of salaries and pensions.
He said that currently 100 locomotives are required immediately to meet the demand of freight. Bilour said that the President was informed about the non-payment of Rs.
11.1    billion bailout package as announced by the federal cabinet last year, adding that he asked the President to close down Pakistan Railways if finance division could not pay money to it.
The Minister said that the President was also informed about the projects of Pakistan Railways for its rehabilitation and to bring back the out of order  locomotive on track.
Meanwhile, Secretary/ Chairman Pakistan Railways Javed Iqbal told the press  conference that the meeting with President of Pakistan was not confined to the payment of salaries and pension rather it was also discussed how to bring out Pakistan Railways out of crisis.
He said that under the public-private partnership a special train would  start operation from Lahore to Karachi and Karachi to Lahore by the end of this year, while under another agreement Shalimar would also start operation from next year.
He further said that many private firms including Shell Oil, PSO, DP world  and NLC have shown their interest to run train on partnership basis.
He said an agreement with NLC has been finalized under which Pakistan Railways would rent out 20 locomotives to NLC on notified tariff of Pakistan Railways.
He said the main reason of decline in revenue is non availability of locomotives for freight, adding that the situation would improve once the locomotives are brought back on tracks.
He said the repair and rehabilitation work would be completed till March next year which would ultimately help achieve Rs. 22 billion revenue again, he hoped.
General Manager Operation Pakistan Railways Saeed Akhtar was also present on the occasion.