Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday said with maximum facilitation for common man as its top priority in ‘Naya Pakistan’, the present government was striving to upgrade the country’s train travelling system to the next level with the support of China, which had one of the best railway systems in the world.
“Common man from across the world travels by train, which is considered as the best source of travelling. But in Pakistan train has never been a priority of the previous governments, who focused on the construction of roads to facilitate the elites,” he remarked while addressing the inauguration ceremony of Rawalpindi-Multan Thal Express as well as a live train tracking system here at the PM Office.
The prime minister referred to the work carried out under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) so far, especially the construction of roads, and said his government was focusing on various areas of economic development including the transfer of technology from China for seeds development to boost agriculture sector as well as the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). He said the construction of ML-1, under which train track would be laid from Peshawar to Karachi, would considerably curtail the travel time from Peshawar to Karachi and facilitate the common man.
Imran directs railways ministry to send corruption cases to NAB for prosecution
He referred to the huge corruption done by the previous governments in railway as mentioned by Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed and asked to send such cases to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for prosecution so that people might have fear and do not indulge in corrupt practices in future.
The prime minister also referred to the two NROs – NRO-1 and NRO-2 – done over the last 10 years and said those arrangements helped the corrupt and did away with the fears of corrupt. He said it was due to corruption that the country’s debt swelled to Rs 30,000 billion from Rs 6,000 billion in 10 years, adding that the money went into the pockets of the corrupt, leaving the country in a situation where it has to pay Rs 6 billion per day as interest on the huge loans taken in the past.
The prime minister stressed for cost-cutting in public spending in every sector and said he himself had achieved 30% cost-cutting at the PM Office during the last six months and for that purpose an auditor had been hired. “Nihari was served at the PM House in the past. But now only tea and biscuits are served here,” he remarked, and questioned if he could succeed in cutting the cost by 30%, why other ministries and divisions could not have 10% cut in their running costs.
Talking about the recent complaint of inflated gas bills for consumers, the prime minister said with Rs 157 billion of debt and Rs 50 billion of annual pilferage, the gas companies were facing closure, which caused raise in the tariff of this commodity. “At present, we are passing through hard times, but the country has a bright future,” he added.
The prime minister said the government would support Pakistan Railways by all means to give ease to common man. On the occasion, he also inaugurated the new train as well as the live train tracking system by unveiling a plaque.
Sh Rasheed says 20 new trains launched during last six months without any additional spending
Earlier, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed in his opening remarks highlighted the performance of Pakistan Railways over the last months and said that with Thal Express being launched, 20 new trains including Rehman Baba Express and Mohinjodaro Express were launched during the last six months without any additional spending.
He said Pakistan Railways generated additional revenue of Rs 2.38 billion during the last six months when compared with the same period of corresponding years, adding that cost of diesel used for train operations had been slashed to Rs 15 billion from the earlier Rs 18 billion.
The minister said the present government has given 100% concession for train travel to the people with 75 years of age and above and half ticket for people with 65 years of age. He said Pakistan Railways has acquired 365 acres of land in Gwadar for constructing a railway station, for which the ground-breaking would be performed by the prime minister.
The railway minister also criticized the previous government for useless utilization of precious public funds at the so called up-gradation of railway stations at cities like Okara and Norowal. He said the new Rs 70 million live tracking system had been developed which has been donated by Modassir Zaidi to Pakistan Railways. Father of Mudassir Zaidi had served in Pakistan Railways, he added.
Published in Daily Times, February 13th 2019.
