Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways will only be able to pay the salaries of its workers until June, as coronavirus lockdowns and a nationwide transportation shutdown have upended its operations, a minister said on Tuesday.
“We will not be able to pay salaries of Pakistan Railways staff in the month of July as we have money till June only. We urgently need Rs5 billion to pay the salaries and other expenses in July 2020,” Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed told Arab News.
The company has run out of money as the operations of all of its 42 passenger trains have been suspended since March 25, when the government suspended railway services to contain the spread of the disease.
According to Ahmed, his ministry has requested Rs2 billion a month from the budget to cover the expanses of Pakistan Railways until the year’s end.
“We have to pay the salaries of 77,000 employees and 200,000 pensioners along with other expenses like utility bills and maintenance of fleet. We have asked the government for a bailout package of Rs2 billion a month to overcome this crisis,” he said, adding that the closure of operations had severely affected the company which was already facing deficit trouble before the current health crisis.
“Pakistan Railways was already running at a loss. We succeeded in reducing its annual deficit by Rs6 billion, bringing it down to Rs32 billion in 2019 from 38 billion a 2018. This coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has brought all our operations to a halt. The railways have had no income from past six weeks, which will further increase our losses,” Ahmed said.
He added that the ministry had requested that the lockdown be eased from May 10 for the railway operator to run passenger services ahead of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of Ramadan and normally sees many people returning to their hometowns to celebrate it with families.
“If they (the government) allow us, we will start 32 trains across the country. The final decision would be taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan after May 9. In case of delays, we plan to start operations on May 15,” Ahmed said.
The Eid holiday this year will be celebrated in the last week of May.
“As a precautionary measure, we have already installed thermal scanners and other checking machines on different railway stations and will operate trains on a 50 percent occupancy to maintain safe distance between passengers,” the minister said, adding that all standard operating procedures are in place to protect both the passengers and staff from contracting the virus.
Courtesy: (Arabnews)
