Swati wants to abolish railway police

LAHORE: Federal Railways Minister Azam Khan Swati wants to abolish Railway Police and hire personnel from regular police and security agencies.

In this regard, the minister has issued a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of Railways and asked him to draw up a plan to abolish the seats of railway police officers and employees. He also desires to have only 1,500 elite police personnel in railways with good pay and benefits. If implemented, posts of Railway Police IG, SPs, DSPs and other police personnel will be merged into provincial police policy, district police and intelligence agencies. Additionally the CEO has also been directed by the minister to have a meeting with IG Railway Police Arif Nawaz and come up with a plan.

In the letter to CEO, the minister said he had spoken with Prime Minister Imran Khan on this. The letter has also mentioned that carriage factory or Pipri or any other place don’t need police to oversee scrap and other railways functions. He has also ordered immediate transfer of one DIG from Lahore to Karachi. When contacted, a spokesperson for Pakistan Railways said: “It was just a proposal.”