Tag: Sheikh Rasheed

  • Railways staff destroys all my hard work: Shiekh Rasheed

    Railways staff destroys all my hard work: Shiekh Rasheed

    Federal Minister for Railways Shiekh Rasheed has blamed the railway staff for destroying his efforts that he has done for the betterment of railway, Geo reported.

    According to the details, the minister has said that due to increasing number of accidents, railway staff always waste his efforts, adding that such accidents should be avoided.

    He said, “I had done a lot about education in Pakistan, adding that soon there will be four universities in Rawalpindi.

    At least 74 people were killed and dozens injured on Thursday after cooking gas cylinders exploded near Rahim Yar Khan’s Liaqatpur area.

    The Tezgam train was on its way from Karachi to Rawalpindi when the gas cylinder carried by a passenger exploded, killing and injuring passengers. The fire destroyed three of the train’s carriages, including two economy class carriages and one business class carriage.

    The railways minister had also announced a Rs1.5 million compensation for the families of the deceased in the Tezgam incident and Rs0.5 million for those injured.

  • Railways’ Rs213 million reduced to ashes in train fire

    Railways’ Rs213 million reduced to ashes in train fire

    Pakistan Railways (PR) has suffered a loss of whopping Rs213 million as three of Tezgam’s carriages were reduced to ashes in the fire that shook the entire nation on Thursday, a private media outlet reported.

    At least 74 people were killed and over 40 others injured after three gas cylinders exploded in a train travelling from Karachi to Rawalpindi. The fire destroyed three of the train’s carriages, including two economy class carriages and one business class carriage.

    Footage over both mainstream and social media showed flames engulfing the ill-fated train as people cry for help following the mishap near Punjab’s Rahim Yar Khan district.

    It wasn’t later that Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed blamed passengers for the fire, while people across the country stepped up to condemn the minister’s remarks and accuse PR of criminal negligence.

    “It isn’t PR’s fault and passengers are to be blamed for it,” the minister said while speaking to journalists after the tragedy.

    “It is unfortunate that passengers take cylinders with them. They don’t fear the law,” he said, adding that several people jumped to their deaths from the burning train.

    While Rasheed promised an inquiry to ascertain how the passengers had managed to carry cylinders with them, his statements were not very well received by the people who demanded the minister’s resignation amid rising number of train mishaps.

  • Nation accuses govt of killing 74 as minister blames passengers for train fire

    Nation accuses govt of killing 74 as minister blames passengers for train fire

    With Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed blaming passengers for the train fire that killed at least 74 near Rahim Yar Khan, people across the country have stepped up to condemn the minister’s remarks and accuse Pakistan Railways (PR) of criminal negligence.

    The train, Tezgam, was on its way from Karachi to Rawalpindi when a gas cylinder carried by a passenger exploded, resulting in hundreds of casualties on Thursday morning. The fire destroyed three of the train’s carriages, including two economy class and one business class carriage.

    “It isn’t PR’s fault and passengers are to be blamed for it,” the minister said while speaking to journalists after the tragedy left the nation shaken.

    “It is unfortunate that passengers take cylinders with them. They don’t fear the law,” he said, adding that several people jumped to their deaths from the burning train.

    While Rasheed promised an inquiry to ascertain how the passengers had managed to carry cylinders with them, his statements were not very well received by the people.

    “Be the change you talk about,” journalist Adeel Raja tweeted while urging Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to sack the minister. There has been a significant increase in the number of train mishaps ever since Rasheed was handed the reins of PR. Hundreds of casualties have been reported in derailings and collisions.

    Senior journalist and analyst Moeed Pirzada pointed out that the train didn’t have any fire-fighting equipment and the staff appeared to have no training to deal with such untoward situations.

    Retweeting his colleague Rauf Klasra’s statement, Moeed also accused PR of incompetence and criminal negligence over its failure to bar passengers from carrying gas stoves with them as per the rules.

    Meanwhile, an eyewitness has claimed that the fire was caused by a short circuit in one of the bogies’ fans.

    “The train kept moving even when it was on fire and there were no emergency facilities available inside the train,” the witness said as he blamed PR authorities for not taking complaints of the passengers seriously.

  • Zardari sicker than Nawaz, but still serving prison like a common man: Sheikh Rasheed

    Zardari sicker than Nawaz, but still serving prison like a common man: Sheikh Rasheed

    Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed has said that former president Asif Ali Zardari was sicker than Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif but he was still serving time in prison, like the common man, Geo News reported.

    According to the details, the federal minister while addressing an event lashed out at the Sharif brothers and said that whenever former premier Nawaz Sharif fell ill, attempts were made to take him abroad.

    Rasheed said that Shehbaz was a bigger thief than Nawaz, adding that Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, “is not marching for Islam, he’s marching for Islamabad”.

    “If Imran gives NRO right now, all movements would die down”, Rasheed said.

    Nawaz was allowed bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case on Friday based on medical grounds. Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid had said that the government would obey the court’s orders if it allowed Sharif to fly abroad for medical treatment.

    She had also said that a plane was ready to fly in any doctor the Sharif family wanted from abroad to treat Nawaz.

  • ‘60% of recent railways appointments from minister, his nephew’s own constituencies’

    ‘60% of recent railways appointments from minister, his nephew’s own constituencies’

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued a stay order on 845 recent appointments in Pakis­tan Railways (PR) through “balloting” — a move that had earlier been challenged by PR Employees (PREM) Union, journalist Asad Malik tweeted Tuesday.

    According to Dawn, the PREM Union had last week pointed out that a majority of the newly appointed staff belonged to the two Rawalpindi constituencies of Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed and his nephew Sheikh Rasheed Shafiq.

    Filing the petition before the Rawal­pindi bench of the LHC through its counsel Imran Shafique, the union had requested the court to set aside the inductions.

    PR authorities had advertised 322 posts of different categories in BS-1 to BS-5 in October 2018, according to the petition. Another advertisement was published only a month later, with the number of vacant positions being increased from 323 to 845, the court was informed.

    The petition said thousands of people had applied for the posts, but the appointments were made through balloting rather than on the basis of merit.

    “The candidates who secured highest marks in the skill/written test and proved their mettle in the interviews deserved to be appointed on the basis of open merit, but the railways authorities, while changing the criteria, placed all successful candidates in the same position and decided their fate on the basis of draws/balloting,” it added.

    Informing the court that more than half of the so-called successful candidates belonged to the constituency of the incumbent railways minister and his nephew, MNA Shafiq, the petition said it was unfortunate how “secret balloting was staged to select the blue-eyed ones”.

    The LHC was informed that 58 per cent seats were to be filled on the basis of open merit, 20 per cent quota was reserved for the children of railways employees, 10 per cent was reserved for ex-employees, 5 per cent for orphans and handicapped, and 2 per cent for disabled persons.

    However, the petition maintained, even those quotas were not taken into consideration during the induction through balloting.

    When approached, PR Chairperson Sikandar Sultan Raja told Dawn that the directions to fill the vacancies from BS-1 to BS-4 through balloting were issued by the federal government.

  • Pakistan Railways continues charging dams fund on train tickets

    Pakistan Railways continues charging dams fund on train tickets

    Despite setbacks and disinterest of the people in contributing to the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams fund, Pakistan Railways (PR) is continuing to charge passengers with a surcharge of up to Rs10 on all tickets.

    As per the details, the said surcharge was implemented by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in September last year so as to collect money for the construction of dams while fearing a water crisis in the near future.

    PR had earlier decided to increase fares for all classes to contribute to the fund and the surcharge on tickets was imposed on the directives of Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.

    The authorities had decided to charge Rs1 on Rs100 economy class tickets and Rs2 on tickets worth more than Rs100. An additional amount of Rs10 is being charged on air-conditioned class tickets as no category has been exempted from the surcharge.

  • VIDEO: Sheikh Rasheed claims discussing ‘nuclear attack’ with ISPR chief

    VIDEO: Sheikh Rasheed claims discussing ‘nuclear attack’ with ISPR chief

    Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has claimed having discussed with Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Asif Ghafoor what “fireworks” to use and when.

    “In Beijing, I told [the] ISPR DG that I wittingly made the statement regarding the use of quarter or half kilogram fireworks when the time comes,” he said while speaking to journalists on Saturday.

    The minister had earlier warned India that Pakistan “even has small nuclear bombs weighing 125-250 grams”, which can hit and destroy targeted areas.

    “We know if we want to use our 1-inch, 2-inch or half an inch [atomic bombs],” the minister had said last month, leaving netizens all cracked up.

    “My information is more accurate than most of the people… and Pakistan doesn’t want war. But I stand by my words that it would be the last war. I told Asif Ghafoor that I understand better as to what is to be said in public,” he said Saturday.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    He further said that the nation cannot remain silent while Indian atrocities continue in held Kashmir. “We’re standing with Kashmiris. Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan is standing with Kashmiris and so are the country’s armed forces.”

    “India committed two blunders. The first one was carrying out atomic explosions while presuming that Pakistan would not do so and secondly, it scrapped special status of Kashmir on August 5 this year, believing Kashmiris won’t react”, the minister had said last month.

    His statements had come as tensions started to soar on either side of the border ever since New Delhi on August 5 revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution, robbing the people of the troubled valley of their autonomous state.

    India has since kept Kashmir under lockdown.

  • Irregularities worth Rs97b detected in Pakistan Railways

    Irregularities worth Rs97b detected in Pakistan Railways

    The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has detected billions of rupees worth of irregularities in Pakistan Railways (PR), exposing gross mismanagement within the state-run transport service that continues to incur losses, The Express Tribune reported Monday.

    In his report for 2018-19, the top auditor pointed out
    irregularities that amount to a whopping Rs97 billion and later directed PR
    authorities to take action against those responsible for the massive loss to
    the national exchequer.

    “Pakistan Railways generated Rs49.6 billion in the last
    fiscal year against operational costs worth Rs85.5 billion. As a result, the
    state-run service had to bear a loss of Rs36.6 billion,” the report said.

    Of the audit objections noted in the report, 56 per cent
    pertain to PR lands, 20 per cent pertain to recoveries and 12 per cent pertain
    to the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The remainder concern losses
    from theft, fiscal irregularities and embezzlement.

    The report also revealed that Pakistan Railways suffered a
    loss of nearly Rs15 billion due to the failure of its management to recover
    dues from other federal government wings, like the Port Qasim Authority,
    Pakistan Post, Water and Power Development Authority and the departments of
    irrigation, food and education, and provincial and district authorities.

    It pointed out that maladministration in the Railways Ministry cost a PSDP project Rs10.5 billion. It also noted that the PR administration had granted a contract worth Rs3.2 billion in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) rules.

    “Railways authorities also unable to recover Rs2.6 billion
    from provincial governments to repair level crossings and wasted Rs2 billion
    worth of scrap as well,” the report added.

    Delays in the repair of damaged railway coaches also cost
    the state-run service nearly Rs2 billion, the report pointed out. It also made
    note of Rs380 million worth of ‘fake expenditure’ in the repair process. The
    AGP also criticised PR authorities for losing Rs3.8 billion due to inaction
    while auctioning off railways roads and steel.

    A staggering Rs52 billion worth of irregularities in the
    state-run transport service occurred at the administrative level, the AGP’s
    report mentioned. Another Rs50 billion in losses were a result of embezzlement,
    fraud and theft. Around Rs6.5 billion were lost due to PPRA rule violations.

  • ‘Pakistan even has atom bombs as small as 250 grams,’ Sheikh Rasheed warns India

    ‘Pakistan even has atom bombs as small as 250 grams,’ Sheikh Rasheed warns India

    Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad has warned India that Pakistan even has small nuclear bombs weighing 125-250 grams, which can hit and destroy targeted areas, The News reported.

    “We know if we want to use our 1-inch, 2-inch or half an inch [atomic bombs],” the minister said on Sunday, leaving netizens all cracked up.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “India committed two blunders. The first one was carrying out atomic explosions while presuming that Pakistan would not do so and secondly, it scrapped special status of Kashmir on August 5 this year, believing Kashmiris won’t react”, the minister said further.

    Tensions soar on either side of the border ever since New Delhi on August 5 revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution, robbing the people of the troubled valley of their autonomous state. India has since kept Kashmir under lockdown.

  • Breaking all records, Railways generates revenue of Rs54.60 billion

    Breaking all records, Railways generates revenue of Rs54.60 billion

    Pakistan Railways (PR) has registered over a 10 per cent increase in its annual revenue during the first year of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government by generating record Rs54.60 billion.

    According to the one-year performance report of the PTI released Monday, PR has generated the highest-ever revenue during the fiscal year 2018-19 against last financial year’s Rs49.5 billion.

    The government claims that through special initiatives, PR has managed to generate additional revenue of Rs10 billion that helped reduce its annual deficit by Rs4 billion.

    The report further said that PR has added 24 new passenger trains — refurbished locally at PR installations in Lahore and Islamabad — besides increasing the number of rail passengers to 70 million (travelling by trains in a year) and retrieving 383 acres of encroached land worth Rs30 billion among other reforms.