20 defective locomotives purchased during Musharraf era

ISLAMABAD: A sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee Tuesday was informed that the Pakistan Railways had purchased 20 defective locomotives from a foreign company during the tenure of former President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, which caused a loss of over Rs1.33 billion to the national exchequer.

A committee, headed by Senator Talha Mahmood, has been tasked with probing the matter. The sub-committee held its meeting Tuesday under the chairmanship of its convener, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who presided over it in place of Riaz Fatyana, in which audit paras related to the Ministry of Railway from 2010 to 2018 were examined.

The Railways secretary informed the committee that it was a big scandal as all 69 locomotives had gradually gone off track. “Our locomotives have been running for 35, 40 years but these locomotives broke down one by one, now they have been parked,” he said.

According to the audit report presented to the committee by audit officials, the Pakistan Railways had taken a locomotive from a foreign company, but after a performance check, they found defects in it and decided not to purchase them but they bought 20 more locomotives, causing a loss of over Rs1.33 billion to the national exchequer.