Pak Railways Karachi Division earns Rs 580 m from freight despite resource limitations

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

Despite acute resource constraints, the Karachi Division of Pakistan Railways operated as many as 25 goods trains during August 2012 which earned revenue of Rs 82.294 million to the cash-strapped organization

Besides this, a special campaign was launched under special directives of the government to transport Furnace oil for Lal Pir and Muzaffargarh Power Houses to avoid looming power shortage.

“Despite all odds, the campaign  continued for 40 days during which the railway operated 50 oil specials as a result of which some 1800 tank wagons carried 35,580 tons of oil which kept the power houses functional and helped overcome ever increasing load shedding,” Divisional Superintendent, Anzar Ismail Rizvi, revealed in an interview on September 13.

He claimed that the Karachi Division can operate up to 10 freight trains daily provided the locomotives were made available for the same, adding this can put the Railways back to its financial track.

On an average, he pointed out that the Division earned freight revenue of Rs 577.847 million with a daily average of Rs 2.110 to Rs 4.705 million per day from January to August in 2012.

The DS stated that the during these months, the freight earning stood at Rs 65.415 million in January 2012, Rs 88.250 million in Feb., Rs 66.990 million in  March, Rs 52.995 million in April, Rs 76.526 million in May, Rs 29.107 million in June, Rs 136.432 million in July and Rs 62.132 million in August.

On the Passenger side, Anzar Rizvi said, the Division earned revenue of Rs 1960.650 million during January-August 2012 with a daily average ranging from Rs 6.623 to Rs 8.948 million.

According to the DS the Railways earned revenue of R 205.300 million in January, 229.700 million in February, 276.800 million in March, 268.455 million in April, 250.200 million in May, 268 million in June, 242.900 million in July and 219.300 million in August 2012.

He mentioned that keeping aside the resource limitations the Railways operated two Ed special trains on August 6 and 17 and earned revenue of Rs 205 million during the period from August 14 to 24 from current reservation alone.

PEC postpones its dinner in mourning of Karachi tragedy

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

The Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has expressed profound grief and sorrow over the massive destruction caused by inferno at the garment factory resulting in a major loss of human lives.

The PEC Chairman, Syed Abdul Qadir Shah, stated that the heart of every Pakistani was bleeding and every eye was full of tears over this tragedy.

He remarked that no amount of money can compensate for lives lost and neither the dear and near ones could come back.

“But it is high time for every Pakistani to pray to Allah to rest the departed souls in eternal peace and grant fortitude to bereaved families to bear the irreparable loss. The PEC fully stands by the grieved families on this gruesome occasion,” Abdul Qadir Shah observed.

He said that for the future the engineering aspects of all such premises should be thoroughly scrutinized and no industrial unit, not fulfilling the engineering requirements, should be permitted to establish itself.

He announced the postponement of PEC's annual dinner which was due to be held on September 14 at the Beach Luxury Hotel in Karachi.

Meanwhile the death toll from a garment factory at Karachi's Hub River Road rose to 289, many of whom perished because they were unable to escape building that lacked emergency exits and basic safety equipment such as alarms and sprinklers.

The deadly blaze, having erupted on the night of September 11, was one of the worst industrial accidents in Pakistan's 65-year history.