Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on Wednesday informed the Senate that responsibility of railway tracks security and patrolling has been assigned to technically-equipped gangmen and railways police.
Replying to a calling attention notice raised by Senator Mushaq Ahmed about laying off the jobs of Railways Patrollers, the minister said Pakistan Railways was our precious asset and people preferred railway for travelling. He said the calling attention aimed at securing railway tracks and controlling railways accidents. Ensuring railway tracks security was sole discretion of Railways, he added.
The minister said that the government was making all out efforts to bring improvement in railways. All doors of corruption in railways has already been plugged adding that old trains closed in past, were gradually being restored, he added. He said the incumbent government has introduced monitoring and train detecting service in railways in order to trace actual location of trains. Various passenger trains were outsourced besides reducing fare of trains, he added. The minister said that 40 un-manned crossing have already been upgraded while blocking 156 unauthorized crossing to avoid trains mishaps. The train accidents witnessed sharp decreased and only 53 accidents were reported during the current year, he said.
