Railways recently imported 55 engines from US, NA told

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Monday that Pakistan Railways recently imported 55 locomotives from the United States to further improve its service.

Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Syed Muhammad Ashiq Hussain Shah told the House during the question hour that 32 locomotives had been received while remaining 23 were in the transit and expected to reach Karachi by end of July this year.

He said a tender of 20 more locomotives had been finalised and a letter of intent has been issued in favour of General Electric US. The Parliamentary Secretary said that main track from Karachi to Peshawar would be upgraded under the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry told the House that the Prime Minister s Education Reforms programme in the federal capital was being executed as per the timeframe.

He said that three billion rupees are required for up-gradation of remaining 200 public sector schools in the capital territory. He expressed the confidence that this amount will also be released before the December this year.

The minister of state said that cardiac surgery centre is being upgraded at the Capital  Hospital. He said that equipment for the centre has been purchased and recruitment of human resource is under process which will be completed in next six months.

To a question, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb told the House that PTV booster project for Buner will be completed by December this year. She said the project faced delays mainly due to land dispute late revision of PC-I and law and order situation in the area.

The NA was also informed that the in-service training facilities comprise of mandatory trainings for promotion to BS-19, 20 and 21 were quite sufficient to cater to the needs. However, facilities for the non-mandatory trainings, which are aimed at augmenting specific skills of employees, offered a huge potential for harnessing.

Minister In-charge of Establishment Division, Sheikh Aftab, said that with regard to mandatory trainings, National School of Public Policy (NSPP) through its constituent units, such as National Institutes of Management (NIMS) in ICT and provincial headquarters and National Management College at Lahore impart mandatory courses twice a year including MCMC for promotion to BS-19, SMC for promotion to BS-20 and NMC for promotion to BS-21.

In addition to above, National Defence University also offers in-service mandatory training titled National Security & War Course for civil servants aspiring for promotion to BS-21.

Replying to a supplementary question, Sheikh Aftab said that all promotions were being made on merit base and the discretionary powersto officer in-charge had been reduced to a great extent.

He said building training requirement was sufficiently met through accommodating approximately 2,000 nomination from Federal Government Ministries, Divisions, Departments and Organizations.