BAHAWALPUR: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways was informed that more than 2,236 acres of railway property in Pakistan Railway’s (PR) Multan Division were still being used illegally for residential, commercial, and agricultural purposes.
The meeting was presided over by MNA Muhammad Moeen Wattoo at the Multan Division Superintendent’s (DS) meeting room and reiterated its prior directive that any encroachment on railway property for commercial purposes should be removed by all means possible.
The Ministry of Railways, Director-General of Property & Land, and Legal Directorate were also instructed to request vacation of stay orders from the higher courts.
Furthermore, the Multan DS informed the audience that approximately 24 acres of land, including 9.10 acres of commercial property, were recovered from land squatters over the years 2021–2022.
He said that all railway divisions had been granted a two-and-a-half-month window by the Ministry of Railways to clear the encroached area.
The Ministry of Railways’ report on the call attention notice moved by MNA Qadir Khan Mandokhail to transfer control of the PR school at Kala Pull, Karachi, to TCF/ICWS was also thoroughly studied, but the mover was not pleased, therefore the committee resolved to meet in Karachi for a site visit.
Furthermore, the committee also took notice of the billboards that were erected without authority in the tax system.
Besides, the committee was informed by the Ministry of Railways that 46 of the 230 coaches that were brought from China were now in use in Pakistan.
The committee was informed that the railway had used its funds to rehabilitate the track in Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab.
