The prevailing economic uncertainty is impacting the routine operations of state-owned entities and Pakistan Railways is the latest organization to face the heat of the financial turmoil.
According to reports, Pakistan Railways has decided to maintain its fuel inventory for just three days instead of one month, with passenger and freight train operations expected to be derailed in the coming days.
Besides the fuel crisis, the short-sighted decision-making of senior management of Pakistan Railways has resulted in the underconsumption of the organization’s various assets such as rolling stock, locomotives, and infrastructure.
Speaking in this regard, a senior Pakistan Railways official said that the organization is in a dire financial situation as it has no funds to disburse gratuity worth Rs. 25 billion to its employees who retired in the last couple of years. The organization is also facing serious challenges in disbursing monthly salaries to employees and pensions to retired employees.
Salaries and pensions are supposed to be disbursed on the first of each month. Unfortunately, they are dispatched after a delay of 15-20 days. Last month, train drivers halted operations and protested as they didn’t receive salaries even on 20 December. They were convinced to resume operations after they were given salaries in two tranches.
The official added that Pakistan Railways was doing relatively well until FY2017-18 as its annual freight revenue touched Rs.20 billion. After that, it started to decrease and dropped to Rs. 16 billion per annum.
For FY 2022-23, the freight revenue target was Rs. 20 billion. From July to November in FY 2022-23, Pakistan Railways expected to earn a revenue of Rs. 10.2 billion. However, the organization earned just Rs. 6.6 billion.
As for the revenue from passenger train operations, the revenue ranges between Rs. 20-25 billion annually. However, it is also reducing due to floods in Sindh and Balochistan and despite the arrival of new coaches from China.
While confirming that Pakistan Railways is now maintaining a three-day inventory instead of one month, the CEO of Pakistan Railways said that the organization doesn’t have money to maintain the inventory for a month.
The CEO added that the World Bank recently granted Rs. 14 billion to Pakistan Railways for the restoration of the infrastructure damaged by floods.
He claimed that like the federal government, Pakistan Railways has no money to manage its affairs. PSO, which is Pakistan Railways’ oil supplier, is facing serious challenges regarding the opening of LCs for oil imports.
Via: Dawn
