Low gas pressure turns up the heat in the National Assembly

Low gas pressure turns up the heat in the National Assembly

Awami National Party (ANP) Thursday rendered complete support to the government, seconding the views Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani expressed about the supremacy of parliament.

The PM lost his temperament in the National Assembly, hitting out hard at the military establishment while asserting his authority as the chief executive of the country. Following the address, Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour announced his party’s support
to the PM’s views.

The minister clarified, “ANP fully supports the views of the prime minister. Parliament, judiciary, executive, and media are four pillars of the democratic system. Parliament is sovereign and it’s not answerable to any institution.”

In the very move, Bilor refused to accept the responsibility of railways’ failures, throwing all the responsibility on Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh and his ministry. “Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh should be asked about the present situation of railway,”
the minister added.

The ANP leader further said that the cabinet had approved a bailout package worth of Rs 11 billion for Pakistan Railways in 2009, but the ministry of finance did not release the amount.

“We are waiting for Rs 11 billion we were promised two year ago,” the minister stated. He stated that Pakistan Railways needed 400 new locomotives to resume its all operations in true manners. "This is the only way to overcome the railway’s crisis," he maintained. 

He said that the governments during last 20 to 30 years did not pay any attention in improving the railway network; resultantly the system was facing the consequences. The minister observed that present locomotives were 30 to 35 years old and most of them
had already completed their technical age.

"Even we are running a 53 old locomotive," Bilour said adding one can easily guess the financial situation of Pakistan Railways. 

The minister categorically said that railway has to close its more operations if the finance ministry doesn’t release sufficient funds. Rejecting the blames of inability and corruption of railways’ official, the minister raised a
question that how the officials and workers can run a train without locomotive, oil and other requirements. 

To a question, Bilour was of the opinion that most of the railway tracks in the country were the same laid by the British before the partition of the sub continent. He said that huge investment is required for running the affairs
smoothly.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=7052

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Dec 23 2011. Filed under National, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry