Admitting the government’s failure, Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour on Friday said railways lands could not be retrieved from land grabbers in Karachi, as they had been occupying it for 150 years.
Replying to a supplementary question in the National Assembly during the Question-Answer Hour session, the minister told the House that total value of land of Pakistan Railways, given on short-term lease, was Rs 1,822.466 million and those on long-term lease was Rs 71.92 million during 2007-08. The deputy speaker said it was strange that a minister representing a government was accepting that the land could not be evacuated from grabbers.
He also said the government, if it had sincerely tried, could have retrieved the land. The minister replied that it was difficult as those people had been occupying the land for the last 150 years. Bilour said the lease was made after inviting open public auction through advertisements in all major newspapers of the country. According to the minister’s written reply, minimum reserve lease values were set keeping in view the price determined by the Pakistan Banking Association, an accredited valuator, and assessment of the concerned railways divisions. Bilour added that bidding was held by a committee consisting of railways officers from accounts, property & land and marketing department in a transparent manner, which was then submitted to he Executive Committee of the Railways Board for approval. To a question about discontinuation of goods trains, Bilour said no goods trains’ service had been terminated in the last three years and they were being run as per load destinations.
He said the number of goods trains depended upon the availability of locomotives. Giving a break-up of the goods trains, the minister said a total number of goods trains were 18,181 in 2007-08, 18,815 in 2008-09 and 14,499 in 2009-10. Giving the reason for decline in goods trains, the minister said during the year 2009-10, the availability of locomotives on goods pool decreased to 52 against 90 during 2008-09. The minister further added that an air-conditioned marriage coach, having capacity for 24 berths and one bed room for a married couple, had been introduced for general public in 2008, but it had not become popular as it had been booked for once only since its inauguration. He, however, said the service had not been discontinued.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar told the House that no Pakistani was in US jails after completing punishment. She, however, said around 26 Pakistanis who had completed their sentence were still in Saudi jails. Replying to a supplementary question, the state minister said the government was trying hard to secure the release of Pakistani people who had been held hostage by Somali pirates. She said the government did not want to pay ransom for the release of Pakistani hostages, as it would embolden the criminals. The minister for Food and Agriculture said in a written reply that cotton productivity enhancement had been identified as one of the priority areas requiring US investment and the USAID had allocated $9 million for cotton productivity by controlling Cotton Leaf Curl Virus. The minister said $3 million would be spent per year over a period of three years.
