The problems being faced by the cash-strapped Pakistan Railways (PR) have exacerbated as the Pakistan State Oil has threatened to halt diesel supply to PR because of latter’s bad cheque worth Rs 20 million, the railway sources confided to Pakistan Today. They said that a letter written by the PSO management to the PR authorities stated that the PR owed Rs 1 billion to them and after the dishonoured cheque, they had right to stop the fuel supplies. Sources said the railway authorities had issued four cheque worth RS 300 million to Pakistan State Oil but the PSO’s threat came after the very first of them was bounced.
This situation may compel the PR authorities to suspend operations of some of passenger and freight trains owing to fuel shortage. Pakistan Today also learnt that most of the trains, which reached Lahore on Tuesday, had either been suspended or behind their schedule. Railway officials, however, are still hopeful that they will try to arrange the payment to the PSO to avert halt its shutdown. Earlier on Monday, Federal Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour had said that the PR had only two days worth of diesel supplies. Meanwhile, the ad hoc employees of the Pakistan Railways also staged a demonstration against non-payment of their salaries outside PR Headquarters.
