The Senate Standing Committee on Railways on Tuesday expressed strong displeasure at the repeated absence of the railways minister and the minister of state, and decided to write a formal letter to the prime minister. Senator Shahadat Awan chaired the meeting, where officials were reprimanded for incomplete reports on pending litigation, theft, misappropriation, track damage and freight losses.
The ministry was given 10 days to file a comprehensive updated report on every pending case in every judicial forum. The papers already submitted left out lower-court cases and gave incorrect details of matters already disposed of.
Shahadat asked how the Law Department works. The railways secretary said about 300 officers and officials are working there.
Lawmakers raised the illegal and unauthorised occupation of 34763 Pakistan Railways residential quarters, including 2,323 illegally occupied and 1,732 occupied by unrelated people. A further 321 quarters are held by unauthorised persons with no clear link to the department, and 209 by retired employees of the ministry.
The inspector general of railways said a survey two months earlier found 1,087 quarters sublet, 804 illegally allotted, 236 used for illegal activities and 27 used for commerce, including water filtration plants. The committee noted that unauthorised occupants were using utilities while meters were unmetered or in unofficial names, so the Railways paid the cost.
Members said railway employees on waiting lists were being denied government housing even though housing and amenities were available. The committee directed the inspector general to register first information reports, evict the illegal occupants and hand the quarters to the railway administration.
Senator Kamil Ali Agha raised travel concessions for journalists.