Railways retrieve precious land in Karachi

 By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

In continuation of the land retrieval and anti-encroachment drive launched by the Pakistan Railways Karachi Division about a couple of weeks ago, the department has swiftly retrieved its 42 acres of land worth billions of rupees from a famous cloths brand in Jama Goth Karachi. 

The land had been illegally occupied by a well-known cloths' brand for the last 25 years where they had constructed a warehouse/godown for commercial purposes. 

The failure in retrieving that land in the past had resulted in conclusion of departmental action against many officers of Karachi Railways. 

The Divisional Superintendent Karachi Railways, Arshad Salam Khattak, has commented the concerned divisional officers and its police force for accomplishing a major task. 

He announced that the Karachi railways' anti-encroachment and land-retrieval operations would be escalated further owing to categorical directives from the apex court on December 29. 

This was the third successful operation by the Karachi Railways' during the stern drive initiated on December 22 last year.

Dadu-Kotri rail infrastructure inspected

 By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The annual DS Special inspection of the 181-kilometere long single line ML-II track from Dadu to Kotri was carried out by the divisional officers of the Karachi division led by their Divisional Superintendent Arshad Salam Khattak. 

The Pakistan Railways operates 213Up/214Down Moen-jo-Daro Express destined between Kotri and Rohri on this line. 

The track and its right-of-way area were examined from the glass window, in the back, of the last coach during the running train as the process called as window trailing. The entire infrastructure entailing manned as well as unmanned level crossings, bridges, level between rails, conditions of stations and available record at all the stations en route were inspected physically by the visiting officers.

The anomalies that had been pointed out four months ago on August 24 during the inspection conducted by Federal Government Inspector of Railways FGIR had been rectified by the concerned officials and were appreciated by the Divisional Superintendent. 

The paraphernalia available to the level crossings' staff was checked and its operational understanding was judged during the inspection.  

Running test of deputed staff was also conducted that determined their physical ability to cope with any untoward situation. 

As per customary practice, cash prizes were also awarded to the staff members for their sound knowledge and display of masterful skills.