The Senate Railways sub-committee on Wednesday directed the ministry to get its land vacated from illegal occupants formulating a comprehensive plan for removing the encroachments from all over the country. Chairman sub-committee Senator Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi directed Pakistan railways to push its lawyers for expediting the cases stuck in courts for years to get the land back.
Responding to the queries of the committee, Additional General Manager Railways Anjum Pervaiz said that Pakistan Railways was facing financial crisis as its employees could not be paid their salaries so far. He admitted that several cheques issued by Railways also bounced. Meeting of the two-member sub-committee was held here in Parliament House to review the matter of Pakistan Railways land encroached in Lahore and steps taken by the ministry to get its property vacated.Additional GM Pakistan Railway Anjum Pervaiz told the committee that total 98 acres of department’s land was occupied by encroachers in Lahore city out of which one acre was being used for commercial purposes while the other for residential.
The parliamentary panel was told that Pakistan Railways was able to get back only nine acres of its encroached land from illegal occupants despite the efforts of several months and clear directions of Standing Committees of Senate and National Assembly.