KARACHI – Thousands of employees of the Pakistan Railways would stage a sit-in at Garhi Khuda Bux on April 12 in order to demand a bailout package for the Railways so it could emerge from its current crises, sources have informed Pakistan Today.
The members of the Railways Mehnatkash Union (RMU) from across the country would gather at the Shahnawaz Railway Station in Sindh, from where the Railways employees would march towards Garhi Khuda Bux. After offering fateha at the grave of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s slain leader Benazir Bhutto, the employees would stage a sit-in for three days in front of the graveyard of the Bhutto family to demand a bailout package for the Railways. Prior to that, the train march of the union from Karachi would start on Sunday as hundreds of employees leave for Larkana through the Bolan Mail Express.
Besides, the same convoy would also leave for Garhi Khuda Bux from Rawalpindi, Quetta, Lahore, Sukkur and other cities the same day. RMU representatives said that the PPP, which claims supporting the low-scale employees, should not only take care of the Railways, but also take measures to improve the railway system. They claimed that the present government was trying to find grounds for privatising the Railways, the only source of transportation for the poverty-hit people of the country. They suggested that to improve the railway system, the government should write off Railways’ dues of Rs 50 billion by introducing a meaningful bailout package.
They demanded that the report regarding corruption and misuse of power by the Railways’ senior officials between 2007 and 2008 – such as the sale of schools, clubs and other assets of the Railways – should be made public.
