Meeting of Standing Committee on Railways held

The 21st meeting of the Standing Committee on Railways was held on Thursday in Committee Room of Pakistan Railways, Railways Headquarters, and Lahore.

Dr. Nisar Ahmad Jatt, 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 the meeting.

The Committee was given briefing on “Katchi Abadies” of the Railways’ land. It was informed that federal government announced in 1985 that all un-authorized hutments shall be regularized. On the cutoff date of 23-3-1985, total number of 188 Katchi Abadies was currently habited on the Railways’ land. 39 NOCs have been issued.

The Committee discussed the matter in detail and recommended that the proper viable / feasible policy should be formulated to resolve the issue. The Committee also directed Ministry of Railways to provide accurate / authentic figure of units of Katchi Abadies on the Railways land along with the complete detail of the area within fourteen days.

 Mr. Muhammad Riaz Malik, Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar, Mr. Rasheed Ahmad Khan, Ms. Phyllis Azeem, Mr. Ramesh Lal, Engr. Hamid-ul-Haq Khalil and Mr. Amjad Ali Khan, MNAs attended the meeting. The meeting was also attended by Khawaja Saad Rafique, Minister for Railways and senior officers of the Ministry of Railways.