Fare Of Passenger Trains Not To Be Increased, Says Saad Rafique.
LAHORE -- Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Tuesday that fares of passenger trains were not being increased, keeping in view to facilitate travellers of low-income group.
Addressing a news conference at PR headquarters, he said fares of freight trains would be increased to 15 percent and 10 percent of Express trains. He said that when in past, he took over the charge of Pakistan Railways at that time the revenue of the department was Rs 18 billion and the deficit was of more than Rs 32 billion. In 2018 when the PML-N government was ousted, the railway income had been increased from Rs 18 billion to Rs 50 billion and deficit was Rs 36.6 billion, he added.
Saad Rafique said: 'Now when he again came back the revenue of the department is Rs 53.35 billion while deficit has crossed Rs 37 billion and unfortunately deficit will further increase upto Rs 43 to 45 billion.' He said that during the tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, the pace of revenue generation remained very slow while the deficit increased.
He said that Railway Construction Pakistan (RAILCOP) was earning profit of Rs 400 million and last year it made a loss of Rs 9 million, adding that other companies of the department were also not in good form. He further said that decisions had been made in the railways ministry by bypassing the PR headquarters, adding that incompetent persons were appointed.
The Railways Minister said that Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) was the project of CPEC it was given to railways and added that previous ministers should tell what the progress was made on ML-1 project. Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which was made by us, the previous government did nothing on it and just broke it and the cost had increased from 6.8 billion dollars to 9.8 billion dollars.
He further said that 21 to 22 power vans were out of order, adding that pensioners were facing a lot of problems. Railways stance on its land was not defended properly in the court, he added. Saad Rafique said he got furnace related project completed during his tenure and it was arrived in November 2019 and it had not yet been installed. Punctuality of trains were badly disturbed besides poor cleanliness, he said. He said there was no other way except taking burden which the PML-N government took on its shoulders.
He said, 'If we have not taken this burden and proceeded towards elections in that scenario no...
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