Bilour terms NLC responsible for Railways’ failure

Pinning the failure of his department on National Logistic Cell (NLC), Federal Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour has said transportation through railways has been reduced down to 28 percent.

In an interview to BBC Urdu, the minister, who is also blamed for the woes of the railways, observed, “The Ministry of Defence owes Pakistan Railways big time because the National Logistic Cell is a defaulter.”

He stated that not long ago Pakistan Railways was freighting about 68 percent of the total cargo transported in the country, which reduced to only 28 percent. In his view, the NLC, the sub-department of the army, poached the business of railways.

Replying to a query, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said he never tolerated corruption in his ministry, saying that they sacked at least thirteen hundred employees without any discrimination, who were found guilty in financial scams worth of Rs 8 billion.

At the same time, the minister attributed President Asif Ali Zardari for saving Pakistan Railways from going bankrupt. He said, “Had the president not intervened the railroad department would have come to a grinding halt”.

Commenting on the health of locomotives and coaches, he asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to start proceedings of the case of those 59 railway engines that were purchased during the tenure of then Minister for Railways Let Gen (Retd) Javaid Ashraf Qazi.

In his view, the locomotives were failing now and then and remaining trains will be shut down automatically. He claimed, “The engines sourced from China in Musharraf-era were faulty, that’s why they break down so often”.

Earlier, the minister has been reportedly agitated on the floor of the National Assembly and even in the cabinet meetings, against being continually ignored, but to no avail.

Bilour once resigned from his post but was asked to take any other ministry. He, however, refused doing so and continued pushing for financial help for Pakistan Railways,

When he was asked whether Pakistan Railways could transport NATO supply from Karachi to Peshawar, he stated that they don’t have enough locomotives even to pull passenger trains.

It is vital to mention here that the federal cabinet had approved a bailout package of Rs11.01 billion for the crisis-ridden Pakistan Railways in December 2010.

However, to this day, the hapless department, that caters to travel needs of mostly the poor, lower middle and middle class, is yet to get the promised amount.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jul 30 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.