3 days Oil stock left for railways in Pakistan under China's debt, seeking help from the Ministry of Railways

Pakistan Railways (PR) is currently running into a lot of trouble as its passenger train and goods train have only three days of fuel left. One of the senior officials of PR requested Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq that squeezing the oil reserves for train operations clearly shows that the financial condition of PR is very bad. A few days ago, the oil stock was left for only one day, the official said, forcing the railways to limit its freight operations.

Pakistan was forced to reduce the operation of trains

Meanwhile, various railway assets, including rolling stock, locomotives, and infrastructure, continue to be underutilized. On the other hand, political instability and unrest created by political parties and other stakeholders are adding fuel to the fire. "A few days ago, the Railways had only one day's oil stock left with it across the country. Which forced the authorities to reduce the operation of goods trains, especially from Karachi and Lahore.

A senior official source warned on Sunday that the Railways would become a defaulter if the government continued to ignore the department. The official said that the financial condition of the department is almost at a standstill as it does not have the money to clear the liabilities of around Rs 25 billion in the form of gratuity for several officers/officials who have retired in the last year. Similarly, he revealed that the department is not even able to pay the monthly salary of the employees and the pension of the retired officers. Those who should get a salary and pension on the 1st of every month are getting a salary after a gap of 15 to 20 days. Recently, train drivers decided to stop trains and go on protest/strike across the country as they did not get their salaries for the last month as well.

“Now you can well imagine the state of PR,” said the official. According to him, the financial condition of the department was better in the financial year 2017-18, and before that its annual freight revenue had reached the figure of 20 billion per annum, including the income from the dedicated coal operation from Karachi to Yusufwala (Sahiwal). was involved.

However, it gradually started falling later and has now shrunk to around Rs 16 billion, including earnings from the Karachi-Sahiwal coal transport operation, which has been reduced due to coal imports from Afghanistan. Is. The official said that despite the arrival of new coaches from China, the condition of passenger train operations is going down by about Rs 20 to Rs 25 billion. The recent floods in Sindh and Balochistan also affected operations, leading to a drop in revenue.

As reported by Dawn, PR has miserably failed to generate and raise revenue to overcome the financial crisis and it seeks financial help from the federal government to meet its rising expenses. Under the policy, PR is required to invite and engage the private sector in its operations, especially freight operations. But over the years, it has failed to do so.

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