Islamabad, the 3rd May, 2017: The 20th meeting of the Standing Committee on Railways was held today at 2:30 p.m. in Committee Room No. 7, Parliament House, Islamabad. Mr. Ramesh Lal, MNA presided over the meeting under rule 216(2) of the Rules of the Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007; as Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA, Chairman of the Standing Committee could not attend meeting. 

2.         The Committee was given briefing on budgetary proposals relating to the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the financial year 2017-18 along with its total utilization of budget and year of completion. The Committee was informed that nine projects would be completed by the end of June, 2017. The total proposed allocation for ongoing and new projects would be 67.252 billion out of which 92% has been allocated for the completion of ongoing projects, and 8% for new projects. The Committee recommended that projects may be completed within specified time period.

3.         The Committee was also given briefing on unauthorized occupation of “Katchi Abadies” on the Railways’ land. It was informed that about 188 Katchi Abadies exist on Railways’ land all over the country. For the regularization of Katchi Abadies on Pakistan Railways’ land the department had issued 95 number of N.O.Cs. 

4.         The Committee decided to appoint a Sub-Committee under the convenership of Mr. Ramesh Lal, MNA to examine the encroachment on Pakistan Railways’ Land in Balochistan and Sindh.

5.         Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar, Rana Zahid Hussain Khan, Ms. Phyllis Azeem, Malik Ghulam Rabbani Khar, Engr. Hamid-ul-Haq Khalil, Mr. Amjad Ali Khan, Mr. Sajid Ahmad and Ms. Naseema Hafeez Panezai, MNAs attended the meeting. The meeting was also attended by Khawaja Saad Rafique, Minister for Railways and senior officers of the Ministry of Railways.