4,231 acres of Railways land illegaly occupied, NA told

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Giving a break up of occupied land, House told 1,159 acres of land encroached by govt depts, 3,072 acres of land in illegal possession of individuals

By Ali Hussain

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Monday that various government department, institutions and individuals have occupied a total of 4,231 acres of land of the Pakistan Railways.

Railways Minister of State Muhammad Afzal Sindhu responding to various questions by the members also told the House that restructuring of the Pakistan Railways was under consideration by the Cabinet Committee of Restructuring. He said Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had called a meeting on September 27 to discuss issues relating to the railways.

Giving details of the occupied land in a written reply, the House was told that 1,159 acres of land was being encroached by government departments, while 3,072 acres of land was in illegal possession of certain individuals. In the provinces, 396 acres of land was being occupied in Peshawar, 103 in Rawalpindi, 2,420 in Lahore, 237 in Multan, 260 in Sukkur, 249 in Karachi and 566 in Quetta.

The NA was further informed that regular anti-encroachment operations had been conducted with the help of the authorities concerned.

Sindhu said that the issue of illegal encroachment on the Railways’ land was being taken up with the department concerned along with the provinces. The House was told that First Information Reports (FIRs) had been lodged and police memos had also been issued to the illegal occupants, while the occupation by government departments had already been taken up with the departments concerned, and was being perused for a mutual settlement.

To a question, Sindhu said that 10 passenger services had been suspended, as they were incurring losses. He added that there was no plan to privatise Pakistan Railways.

He further said that an amount of Rs 422.297 million had been allocated since 2007 for the renovation, repair and maintenance of the railway station building under revenue, improvement funds and the public sector development programme.

The minister added that the Railways Department was in loss in many countries of the world expect in India and a few other countries.

In her remarks, NA Speaker Fehmida Mirza said that Pakistan Railways was not a profit earning department rather it was a welfare department and the government should come up with a policy, which ensures that this facility is not taken away from the citizens of the country.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Birjees Tahir said that the government should tell the House whether it had failed to run the Railways, as many train services had been suspended, or their had been talks of privatising the important public entity.

Separately, Food and Agriculture Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal told the House in a written reply that wheat availability for the current year was over 28 million tonnes, which was well above the annual requirements of 23.7 million tonnes. This includes 23.86 million tonnes of wheat produced during last year and carry over stocks of 4.22 million tonnes, he added.

He further said that sugar production was 3.1 million tonnes, against the requirement of 4.4 million tonnes.

Minister for Health Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the House that across the board price increase of medicines was not allowed since December 2001. However hardship cases for price increase had been considered and approved by the government, keeping in view the devaluation of the rupee, hike in prices of raw material, packaging material, energy cost, inflation and labour cost, he added.