The differences between the two labour unions and assurance by the Railways administration to pay salaries to the striking employees within a day resulted in the resumption of rail traffic across the country hours after it had been brought to grinding halt.
The Railway employees who have not been paid salaries for several months and were already protesting against disconnection of power and gas supplies to their residential colonies enforced a wheel jam on the system by not allowing trains to roll out of the sheds.
The crisis continued to stare the cash-strapped administration in the face but no serious attempt was made to resolve it until the federal government finally announced a bailout package of one billion rupees on Monday. This was done in view of Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilaur’s insistence that the system would collapse without the injection of huge funds.
That the government simply acquiesced to the Minister’s demand rather than persuading him to take measures aimed at turning the system around without burdening the public exchequer was a surprise. Mr Bilaur’s attitude has been so apathetic that it seemed he no longer cared for the commuters who had suffered a lot due to long delays in train operations. It is difficult to understand what the compulsion is for retaining him at this portfolio.
The fact that more than 300 of the 500 locomotives are out of order explains the poor state of affairs Pakistan Railways has been in. The shrunken operations are causing an estimated annual loss of Rs 25 billion to one of the country’s biggest public sector organisations which is also the largest employer compared to any other government institution.
President Zardari has done well by ordering an immediate release of funds to the Railway authorities which may be enough only to clear the wages of the employees. But at a time when the country’s economy is under severe stress, the government cannot afford to continue injecting money to keep the system afloat. It is only through private sector’s active participation that the virtually dysfunctional organisation can be revamped.