Irregularities of over Rs12bn revealed in Railways’ Property Land Department

Lahore: The irregularities of 12.5 billion rupees have been revealed in the Property and Land Department of Pakistan Railways.

According to the special audit report of the railways, total railway land in the country comprises 1.3532 million kanals. There are encroachments on 2,617 acres of land worth more than Rs3.49 billion.

According to the report, there are illegal petrol pumps on land worth more than 2.17 billion rupees in Karachi and Hyderabad. The 63 acres of land worth 4.40 billion rupees of Gilani railway station in Karachi has not been handed over, due to which the circular railway project could not operationalise. Even 602 railway quarters in Sukkur were also not completed.

Apart from this, dues of 221.2 million rupees have not yet been collected from various departments. Railways has suffered a loss of 1.16 billion rupees due to non-auction after the lease agreement with a private fitness company in Karachi was terminated.

According to the report, the staff deployed for the management of railway property lacks the required capacity and engineers are deployed at most of the locations.