-PM allows 30 trains to run from 20th
-Sindh says not consulted on decision
Vows not to allow trains entering province without SOPs implementation
Corona cases rise above 43,200 as nearly 12,00 recover after treatment
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Limited railways operations will resume in the country from May 20 (Wednesday), Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said Monday.
Rashid said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has given the permission on the condition that the standard operation procedures (SOPs) were adhered to.
Addressing a press conference, he said: “No one will be allowed inside the stations without having a ticket. Nearly 7,000 police officers have been deployed at [the stations in] Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Quetta and an emergency has been imposed.”
Police officials, he added, would ensure that people do not enter stations without tickets. “Divisional head will be held responsible in case of violation of the SOPs and action will be taken against him,” the federal minister noted. Rashid said a “rehearsal” has been scheduled at all the stations tomorrow (Tuesday).
“If the situation [of the coronavirus pandemic] remains stable during the current month, then all train services will be resumed across the country from June 1,” Rashid, said, adding, “I am grateful to [NDMA Chairperson] Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal, [Federal Minister for Planning and Development] Asad Umar, [Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue] Hafeez Shaikh, in this regard.”
The railways minister said that he would visit Peshawar tomorrow to review the measures taken, while day after tomorrow he would see off the green line train.
He said that he would also review the situation at other stations to “ensure” that the SOPs and other safety measures were being followed. “I have no differences with the provinces in this regard,” he said, adding: “We will need their support outside the railway stations.”
The minister informed that there was no age restriction for the passengers and that he was supervising all the procedures himself. “We were suffering losses worth Rs5 billion per month due to the closure of train services,” he said.
There have been no changes in the freight rate, he said, while noting that India had “doubled the fare”. “We have not reduced the fares because the number of passengers has been cut down but by 50%,” he said. Rashid refuted the rumors about a “conspiracy” being hatched against the federal government and said: “You should ask those who came here for conspiring and now their name is in the blacklist and will be soon in the Exit Control List.” The minister said that the political atmosphere of the country would change after Eid-ul-Fitr. “I do not expect a change in the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance and even if there is one, I won’t support it.”
Later in the day, Sindh Transport Minister Awais Shah said Monday’s decision to resume train services was taken without consulting the southern province and demanded that Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid should resign if the SOPs were not followed. “We are not against the resumption of train services […] If the institution is facing a loss, will it be compensated with the lives of the people?” Shah added that there was a “contradiction” in the railways minister’s statements.
Talking about the inter-city transport, he said the government was in talks with the transporters in this regard. “Several sectors have been reopened without taking Sindh into confidence,” he added.
Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Monday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced to restore train operations in the country from Wednesday, media reported.
Addressing a press conference, Sheikh Rasheed said that PM Imran Khan has approved to operate 30 trains from May 20. The minister said that all standard operating procedures (SOP) would be adopted during the train operation. “Action will be taken against regional superintendent over violation of SOPs,” said Rasheed and added that Railways will operate more trains from June 1, if the Covid-19 situation in the country gets better.
He announced that ticket prices will also be reduced by 50-60 per cent, even though the move will cost a loss to ministry. The minister also thanked the prime minister for restoring train operations. Sheikh Rashid on Saturday appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan to resume passenger train service in the country from Monday.
Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, he said the decision to resume train services will be taken after a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday. Train services can only be resumed after the opening of Karachi track. If the decision to resume train operations is not made by Tuesday, it will not be possible for the Pakistan Railways to run the operations, he added. The minister assured that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be fully practiced in the train operations, adding that the resumption of PR operations is important in order to facilitate the passengers on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr. Sheikh Rasheed pledged that if the train operation was not restored, the ministry will return Rs240 million of advance booking to the passengers.
Payments will be refunded in case we won’t get permission to restart train operation, he assured. Sheikh Rasheed announced that ticket prices will also be reduced by 50-60 per cent once trains resume operations. Sindh Minister for Transport Awais Qadir Shah on Monday said that Centre restored train services across the country without taking the province into confidence, media reported.
“We will not allow any train to enter Sindh limits if [standard operation procedures] SOPs are not followed completely,” he said. The minister said that they would witness how much Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid implement on his words to follow SOPs. “We will take media to railway stations and witness if SOPs are being followed or not,” he said adding that they are not against resuming train services but against spread of coronavirus via trains. He further said that if SOPs are not implemented then the railways minister should resign.
The remarks from the provincial minister came after Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed earlier in the day said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced to restore train operations in the country from Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference, Sheikh Rasheed said that PM Imran Khan has approved to operate 30 trains from May 20. The minister said that all standard operating procedures (SOP) would be adopted during the railway operation.
“Action will be taken against regional superintendent over violation of SOPs,” said Rasheed and added that Railways will operate more trains from June 1, if the Covid-19 situation in the country gets better. He announced that ticket prices will also be reduced by 50-60 per cent, even though the move will cost a loss to ministry. The minister also thanked the prime minister for restoring train operations. The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 43,168 with 15,346 cases in Punjab, 17,241 in Sindh, 6,230 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 2,692 in Balochistan, 550 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 997 in Islamabad and 112 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The virus has claimed at least 923 lives while at least 11,922 coronavirus patients have recovered.333
As many as 864 new cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Sindh over the past 24 hours, rising the tally of infections to 17, 241 across the province. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said 864 new infections were detected when 4,679 samples were tested. Three more people died from the disease in the previous 24 hours, taking the number of fatalities to 280 in the province, he added.
He said 136 patients are in critical condition, of them 29 are on ventilators.
The chief minister said a total of 12,472 patients are under treatment, 11,095 are in home isolation, 562 at various hospitals and 815 at isolation centres. He disclosed 280 more patients have been cured and discharged to their homes.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease stands at 4,489, he added. Providing a district-wise breakdown of cases, he said Karachi recorded 657 out of the 864 new cases, adding district East saw 171 new cases, Malir 141, district South 117, district Central 94, Korangi 75, and West 59. He said Ghotki recorded 31 new cases, Jacobabad 30, Larkana 21, Sukkur 17, Shikarpur and Qambar Shahdadkot seven each. Thatta, Kashmore and Kandhkot also saw five new cases each over the past 24 hours.
Matiari and Naushero Feroze recorded two cases each. Sixteen COVID-19 patients have lost their lives within one day, taking the death toll up to 334 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), ARY News reported on Monday.
The KP health department confirmed 334 more people tested positive for coronavirus within 24 hours while took the total number of patients to 6,230 across KP. The Monday’s death count due to coronavirus was recorded high in the provincial capital as 12 out of 16 people were belonging to Peshawar. The statistics showed that 199 out of 334 people were died of coronavirus in Peshawar. The total count of COVID-19 patients in Peshawar stands at 2,412, whereas, 1,944 people recovered from the virus.
On Sunday, the province had witnessed 13 coronavirus deaths while the new infections were 214. Balochistan government on Monday decided against the Centre’s decision to ease restrictions on transport activities in the province during lockdown over fears that it might spread coronavirus to rural areas of the province, media reported. It was decided in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal. The meeting also reviewed availability of medical supplies needed to tackle coronavirus in provincial health facilities. The command and control centre gave a detailed briefing to the meeting over the current situation of virus in the province.
