ISLAMABAD: To minimize its financial losses, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which regulates government expenditures, has instructed Pakistan Railways to reclaim the land that has been encroached upon and to follow the auditors’ recommendations.
The Railways Secretary informed the attendees of a meeting presided over by PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan that around 5,000 acres of the 168,000 total acres controlled by the state-owned railway business had encroached.
The secretary claimed that the majority of the land was being encroached upon by government agencies and that the issue had previously been raised with the relevant authorities when the committee instructed the Ministry of Railways to retrieve the encroached land.
Besides, the PAC chairman gave the ministry’s representatives instructions to turn the institution into a successful business.
Alam informed the secretary that the deputy director of the property and land department of the Railways in Peshawar had harassed a businessman for providing him bribes, drawing attention to an issue of misappropriation and abuse of authority by a Railways employee.
He also commanded the relevant authorities to investigate the officer and take disciplinary action.
Furthermore, Alam also instructed the authorities to contact the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) about the matter of Railways’ unpaid debts.
