Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the railways ministry to work on making travelling by train safer, after a series of train accidents in the country for the last two years prompted serious questions over the performance of the ministry.
The remarks were made by a two-member bench that was hearing a suo motu case about losses incurred by the Pakistan Railways. Pointing out towards the frequent train accidents taking place across the country, the chief justice said, “The way railways is being run, this cannot go on.”
The bench added that an overhaul of the railways is needed to improve the performance of the ministry. The court also questioned Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed’s claims of employing 100,000 people. “There are already 77,000 people working for railways. Where will he employe all these other people,” the chief justice asked the additional attorney general.
“These 100,000 people alone will take the money for the ML-1 railway project that we are getting from China,” the CJP remarked. To this, the AAG told the court that the government was trying to bring down the number of employees from 77,000 to 56,000. “100,000 people will be employed for the ML-1 project,” he clarified, adding that perhaps the federal minister for railways made an error in quoting the numbers.
