Stop corruption in railways, SC tells officials

Disposing of a suo motu case pertaining to irregularities and non-payment of salaries to the workers of Pakistan Railways, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the authorities to curb corruption in the department.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard the case.
Pakistan Railways Chairman Arif Azeem, counsel for Pakistan Railways Rai Muhammad Nawaz Kharal, Attorney General for Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq, NAB Additional Prosecutor General Tarar and former Railways Board secretary Shafiqueullah appeared on notice.
At the onset of the hearing, Kharral apprised the bench that in compliance with the court orders, cases pertaining to corrupt practices in Railways were referred to the NAB. He said investigations were carried out in sale of scrap, purchase of 69 locomotives, maintenance contracts and purchase of spare parts for 69 locomotives.
He told the bench that the other cases were referred to NAB, which include reusing of lubricants in locomotives, corruption in Royal Palm Golf Club Lahore, default of contractors for outdoor advertising, thefts of consignments of valuable freight from goods, trains, unauthorized payments of more than Rs 220 millions by the accounts department of the Railways and matters relating to repair of 36 locomotives and unjustified expenditure of Rs 1.6 billions for the repair of locomotives.
The bench was informed that as many as five passenger trains resumed operation in pursuance of the SC’s directions including Mehr Express, Shahsawar, Sandal Express, Marvi Express and Attock passenger trains.
The court was also told that since February 4, in the result of a joint venture under public private partnership, a Business Express train had commenced its operation between Lahore and Karachi, whereas expression of interest (EoI) was invited for four more trains including Shaheen Express, Fareed Express, Super Express and Lahore Rawalpindi Rail Car on basis of public private partnership.
The chief justice inquired from the Railways authorities that what changes had been made in ticketing system in the Railways, upon which the chairman pledged to computerise the ticketing system.
Giving details of encroachment of Railways land, Kharral informed the court that within one-and-a-half month, a total of 771 acres of land from eight divisions of the Railways was retrieved from 2,000 illegal occupants, which amounts to Rs 4 billion in compliance with the court orders.
The chief justice observed that the ticketing system’s computerisation would help in reducing corruption to 25 percent in Pakistan Railways, adding that the pension of retired servants of the Railways should be released regularly. Later the court disposed of the case.