Senate Adopts Motions On Railway Loop Section Revival, CDA Maintenance Poor Performance

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Sep, 2024) The Upper House of the Parliament on Monday adopted motions pertaining to revival of Railway Loop Section discontinued in Tharparkar and the poor performance of the Capital Development Authority (CDA)'s sanitation directorate.

Senator Poonjo Bheel of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) moved the motion to discuss the issue of discontinuation of the Railway line known as the Loop section, formerly operated through the districts of Umerkot, Tharparkar and the Mirpur Khas Stations.

He explained the historical perspective of the motion, the railway system of old Tharparkar where the Line used to connect the ancient districts with the Jodhpur state of British India. However, after partition the Raja of Jodhpur state had sold the train and its system to Pakistan. He urged the chair to refer the matter to the relevant committee for further debate on its revival to ensure connectivity and economic activity in the less developed region.

Minister of State for Information Technology, Shaza Fatima Khawaja responded that the railway track was laid when there were no road connectivity infrastructure in the region. However, it was a meter-gauged track and a steam engine used to ply at 35km/h speed which was not viable for public mobility in modern times as mostly people prefer to travel on roads.

The Pakistan Railways decided to convert the track, where the assessment revealed that meter-gauged to broad-gauged conversion was not viable due to low population and freight potential, she added. The Thar Coal Line of 105 kilometers would connect the three districts of Tharparkar, Umerkot and Mirpurkhas that would help resolve the economic concerns of the member Senator as it would also generate more economic activity.

The Chair, Presiding Officer, Senator Sherry Rehman referred the matter to the committee cocerned and said since these areas were less developed and the member might not get satisfied. Therefore the matter should be sent to the relevant committee and Senators Poonjo Bheel and Zamir Hussain Ghumro should be convened to present the matter.

Senator Aimal Wali Khan, Parliamentary Leader, Awami National Party (ANP) on his point of order said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was self-sufficient in producing energy and produces the cheapest energy but it was incomprehensible that the province despite not having a single IPP was paying the capacity adjustment payments in its electricty bills.

"ANP demands rather requests the government to remove capacity adjustment payments from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa consumers' electricity bills," he said.

The Chair referred the matter to the Power Committee as Power Minister wanted to take the matter to the Committee.

Senator Kamran Murtaza of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUIP) moved the motion to discuss the overall performance of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) with particular reference to the performance of the Maintenance Directorate (responsible for repair/maintenance of Government-owned accommodations) and the Sanitation Directorate.

He alleged that the CDA was the white elephant of the Federal capital receiving the maximum funds but there was not record of those fundings. The federal capital had the most government-owned residences whereas the CDA had a discriminatory attitude towards maintenance of the residences as the blue-eyed only got entertained.

In response, Minister of State, Senator Shaza Fatima Khawaja said there were proper audits done for the funds allocated to the CDA whereas it was underfunded particularly the Maintenance department as for maintaining about 15 million square feet of covered area they maintain only Rs365 million were given for this year. "We recommend CDA improve the funding as Rs100 per square foot at least should be given which is not being provided to the Directorate. The government will recommend CDA to devise proper procedures and a transparent system for entertaining complaints regarding maintenance of public residences and completely endorse the motion," she said.

The session was adjourned to meet again on September 10 (Monday) at 1500hours.