PR To Install Six More Water Filtration Plants At Stations

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Sep, 2020 ) :Pakistan Railways was all set to install six more water filtration plants at different railway stations across the country for the provision of safe and clean drinking water to the passengers.

"The water filtration plants will be installed shortly at Gujrat, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Nankana Sahib, Hassan Abdal and Bahawalpur railway stations," an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.

To provide clean drinking water at the railway stations, he said that water filtration plants have been installed at twelve railway stations included Okara, Raiwind, Gujranwala, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad, Mirpur Mathelo, Ghotki, Jhelum, Lahore, Rohri and Sukkur.

Moreover, the official said that water supply facilities would be further upgraded at Rohri, Sukkur, Karachi and other important stations. The department has installed its own water treatment plants at Kotri and Rohri for treatment of raw water to make it fit for drinking.

The official said that regular cleaning of water tanks was being carried out to ensure clean drinking water at stations as per directions of the Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

To a question, he said that there was only one restaurant (Canteen) functioning at Rohri Station, where hygienic quality of food/eatables was provided to travelling passengers.

In order to ensure standard quality, he said that random and surprise checking was carried out by Divisional Commercial Officer (DCO) other concerned officers and found that oil of authorized company (Pakwan) bread, rice, flour and soft drinks were being used.

The official said that wherever any discrepancy was noticed, the contractor was fined suitably.

About the availability of diesel electric locomotives, he said that Pakistan Railways owned 474 locomotives out of which around 141 locomotives were not in working condition and creating difficulties in smooth train operation across the country.

The proposal for rehabilitation of these in-effective and over-aged /damaged locomotives was under process through public private partnership on�build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, he added.

He said the department's locomotives were being repaired at the workshops included Central Diesel Locomotive Workshop (CDLW), Rawalpindi, Locomotive Workshops, Mughalpura, Diesel Shop, Karachi Cantonment and Pakistan Locomotive Factory, Risalpur.

The official said that Pakistan Railways was also planning to install as many as 2,000 fire extinguishers in the trains to ensure the safety of passengers. The process of procurements would be made after the availability of funds.