Sindh govt not to allow train operation

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Transport Awais Qadir Shah in a statement on Sunday said that the provincial government will not allow train operations in Karachi.

Addressing federal minister for Pakistan Railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Shah said that “as for now, there won’t be any train operation in the city.” He said that the provincial government is worried about its public, however, all Ahmed cares out is railway. “If train operation kicks off, it will be very difficult to control the coronavirus,” he said adding that Karachi is a very big city, where people of all the provinces reside.

If the train operation resumes, there will be rush at railway platforms. “Sheikh Rasheed is more interested in train operations that public health,” he said. “Sheikh sahib, if you are not dependent of provinces, so provinces are also not dependent on you.”

The Eid is just round the corner. The provincial minister said that if train operations resume, the COVID-19 cases will increase to 0.1 million. Meanwhile, on Saturday, he said that the province will permit the resumption of public transport services after Eid-ul-Fir in Sindh.

Shah refused to resume transportation services, citing the rising number of coronavirus patients in the country and a "critical situation" in the province as cases, deaths, and recoveries continued to increase simultaneously. “We has started preparations to reopen public transport under Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)," he said.

Talking about providing relief to the transporters, since public transport had been shut due to the lockdown, he said that a four-point summary had been drafted for them. "The summary has been sent to [Sindh] Chief Minister [Murad Ali Shah] and a final decision on the matter will be made in a meeting on Monday," Shah said.

Meanwhile Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said a final decision regarding resumption of train operations in the country will be announced by Wednesday after a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan.“If we resume train operations after 15 days, people will climb aboard roofs of trains (for travel) and then the public will taunt me that Sheikh Rashid is responsible for spreading the virus,” the minister told the media on Sunday.

The minister added that if permission to resume operations by Wednesday was not given, he would have to tell the railway authorities to refund Rs24 million to the people within 15 days.

“What is the issue with running just one train Jaffer Express in Balochistan,” he said, adding that train operations will resume only if Karachi's tracks are opened.

“Railways does not only belong to Punjab, but to the entire country. I appeal to the prime minister to resume train operations. We are going into a deficit because this is a means of transportation for the poor,” he said.

Sheikh Rashid added he was waiting for a decision by the prime minister. “I can take the decision to resume train operations myself; however, the prime minister has not given me permission to do this,” he said.

He added that he could not work on the SOPs the day after tomorrow. “If you give me permission (to resume train operations) today or tomorrow, I can work on SOPs. After that, I cannot,” he noted.

The minister added if train operations do not resume in the next two days, railways authorities will have to apologise to the people. “We have to give pensions and salaries to people before Eid,” he said.

Earlier, DS Lahore had said they would resume train operations across the country as soon as the green signal is received.

“Thirty trains from four provinces will become operational as soon as we have the go-ahead,” he said. “No passenger will be allowed to enter the station without taking any safety precautions. Passengers have been asked to make sure they are wearing face masks, gloves and have sanitizers,” he said.

Sheikh Rashid said that social distancing guidelines will be strictly followed. “The railway staff has been issued directions to strictly follow SOPs. Vending owners have also been told to take strict care of keeping their stalls cleans,” he said.

A day earlier, the railways minister had appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to allow the resumption of rail operations ahead of Eid, saying that delays may result in a worsening of the economic crisis.

If no decision is taken by the incumbent government in the coming week, the railways authorities will not be able to control the rush at train stations across the country ahead of Eid, he had warned.

"People have made bookings worth Rs240 million because of Eidul Fitr and are constantly asking us to resume train services," the minister had said, adding that after the coming week, railways will have to return payments even though it is already going through a severe crisis and a default would be unbearable for the institution.

The federal minister went on to add that people who have booked tickets in advance will be given priority as soon as train services are resumed in the country.