The government is mulling measures to improve the working of the fast declining Railways and PIA, a task it should have taken up soon after it came to power more than three years back. Like a deaf man who fails to hear anything other than a blast, the administration’s attention was drawn to the Railways only after an old railway pensioner died while trying in vain to receive his much delayed pension and railway workers started stopping trains instead of running them. In PIA, the financial collapse of the national flag carrier has forced the government to take notice. During the last three years, the government in fact has done its bit to further the decline of both the Railways and PIA by the appointment of cronies on key executive posts and governing bodies.
What needs to be done to reverse the decline of the two major national assets is to control corruption and introduce efficiency. One of the reasons behind the Railways’ decay is the endemic corruption from top to bottom. There have been reports of big guns leasing out Railways property for peanuts, purchasing engines and bogies that were found to be defective and hiring thousands of ghost workers. Similarly the PIA, once one of Pakistan’s most profitable and prestigious corporations, has been plagued by falling standards and declining profits. It has suffered most under cronies who through incompetence have brought the airline to economic collapse. The state of maintenance is extremely poor; there are engine failures, frequent delays in departures and cancellation of flights.
The Finance Minister has been asked to recommend professionals for the formation of a new board of directors for PIA. He is also to recommend the Railways Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). This is a formidable task. His mettle will be tested when the PIA board of directors is formed sans cronies and relatives and top Railways executives appointed. It remains to be seen if he can defy political pressures to make suitable appointments. The PM has promised to chair a monthly meting on Railways’ turnaround. Hopefully he will find time for these meetings despite his monthly visits to Quetta, frequent foreign tours and heavy agenda as the country’s chief executive.
