Railways retrieves encroached property worth Rs890m

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Railways retrieved encroached property worth Rs890 million in 45 days, an official said on Sunday.

Divisional Superintendent Nasir Khalili said that Pakistan Railways had retrieved 75 kanals of land in the jurisdiction of Peshawar division. He said that after assuming charge of Peshawar division, he met officials of various government departments and sought support for retrieving the Railways land.

Some government and private organisations were using railways land, he said, adding that he was successful in retrieving the land and outstanding amount.

The railways had recovered more than Rs30 million from the defaulters, he added.

The official said that those individuals or organisations, who were not willing to vacate the railways land, would face action.

However, he said that some of the occupants had secured stay orders from courts that had restricted Pakistan Railways from taking an action.

Nasir Khalili hoped that courts would also take action against the individuals who were inflicting huge losses on the exchequer.

Commenting about the resumption of services on tracks in various areas, he said that his team had started work on restoring services in various areas. He hoped that passengers and tourists would soon be able to travel to these areas through Pakistan Railways.

He said that Peshawar-Mardan-Takhtbhai service would resume in the near future.

The official added that rail freight transport from Karachi to Peshawar would resume soon. The service had remained suspended for eight years, he added.

“We are working on the issue and soon 450 commercial containers would arrive in Peshawar from Karachi through rail freight on a weekly basis,” he said.