Swati forgoes official saloon for PR benefit.

Byline: Khalid Hasnain

LAHORE -- Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati has decided to not use the saloon dedicated for him and directed the Chief Executive Officer/Senior General Manager of the department to utilise it for commercial purposes to minimise the losses and increase revenue.

He has also directed CEO Nisar Ahmad Memon to immediately issue a notification to the effect, Dawn has learnt.

'Notification be issued that from now onward there will not be any assigned saloon kept and standing for the Pakistan Railways (PR). So each and every saloon (including the one dedicated/assigned for the minister) be used for commercial purpose to minimise losses and increase revenue of the PR,' Mr Swati directed the CEO in a text message on Friday.

CEO Mr Memon told Dawn that he would issue the notification on Saturday (today). 'He (the minister) doesn't want to use the saloon assigned to him since he is of the view that it should be used for commercial purpose to earn revenue rather than keeping it standby for him,' he added.

The PR has already started implementing a plan to use saloons (other than those assigned to the minister and other senior officials) for commercial purposes. The department has sought expression of interest from the private parties for outsourcing the commercial management of air-conditioned saloons by attaching these with Karakoram express initially.

The objective of the plan is not only to earn revenue or reduce losses but also to provide better passenger facilitation to the travelling public.

'We have 4/5 special saloons...

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