Pakistan Railways running trains with just three-day oil inventory, claims report
Pak railways
PakistanRailways (PR)are in trouble with passenger and freight trains being run with only three-day oil inventory, claims a report.
As the economic crisis deepens in the South Asian country, as per the reporta few days back the oil stock had fallen to a low of only a day, forcing the railways to limit their services.
A senior official told Dawn, "A couple of days ago, the railways was left with only one-day oil stock across the country. This forced the authorities to reduce the freight train operations, especially from Karachi and Lahore. It has never happened in the history of the PR. I think the railways will default if the government continues ignoring the department."
The official who spoke to the publication on condition of anonymity claimed that the condition ofthe railway department has gotten to the point of collapsing. The department reportedly even lacks funds toclear a $25 billion liability 'gratuity' for several officers and officials who retired recently withina year or so.
The report also claimed that railway workers and officials were getting their salaries around15-20 days late. Due tothis, train drivers across the country decided to hold strikes or protests across the country as they didn't receive their salaries even on Dec 20.
The official said, "You can now imagine the PR’s situation well."
He said that the department's financial situation was better in the 2017-2018 fiscal year and before as its annual revenue figure reached Rs 20,000 million($ 241.2 million) per annum.
In the case of passenger trains, the official said that the annual figure ranged between Rs 20,000 and25,000 million ($ 240- 300 million) per annum, but is declining despite the arrival of coaches from China. He added that the recent floods also affected the operations, bringing the overall revenue down.
Earlierthe railways' assets stayed underutilised due to the inefficiency and alleged negligenceofthe senior officials, and in the current situation, political instability and unrest triggered by the political parties in the county are adding to the departments' troubles.
(With inputs from agencies)
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