KCR to be operational within six months says Sheikh Rasheed

Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed claimed that Karachi Circular Railway will get operational in six months in collaboration with Sindh Government.

Responding to a question during Question Hour in the National Assembly, he said the Supreme Court has directed to complete the project in six months.

Radio Pakistan reported that Sheikh Rasheed said that the federal and the Sindh governments are on the same page in materializing this project.

Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said housing colonies illegally constructed on railways land and financial crunch are the biggest hurdles in this regard.

Responding to another question, Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib informed the House that 550 vulnerable unmanned level crossings throughout Pakistan Railways network have been upgraded in collaboration with respective provincial governments to prevent accidents in future.

He said old age kerosene oil based signals have been converted to LED lights on mainline, which have better visibility.

Farrukh Habib said that cameras are being installed inside the locomotives, while online inspection of officers and staff is also being ensured. Besides, training and monitoring, two thousand fire extinguishers will be installed in trains by the end of this month.

At the outset, the House offered fateha for the PAF pilot who was martyred when his plane crashed during rehearsal for Pakistan Day parade in Islamabad this morning.

Maulana Akbar Chitrali led the fateha.

Responding to a question, Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noor-ul-Haq Qadri has rejected the impression that his ministry receives interest on Hajj dues submitted by intending pilgrims in various banks. He said amount of Hajj dues is kept in Islamic Banking or interest free accounts and there is no question of receiving interest.

The Minister said process for hiring of accommodation, food, transport and allied services start immediately after conclusion of previous Hajj operation, advance payments have to be made to the owners as contractual obligations.

He said it is not possible to get payment from successful pilgrims after lucky draw as advance payment is required to be made to different contractors and Saudi departments, therefore, Hajj dues from the successful applicants cannot be received after ballot.

Answering a question, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services, Dr. Nousheen Hamid has said complete screening of passengers landing at Pakistani airports is being ensured to check corona endemic.

She said the staff engaged in the screening has been provided with complete protective gear.

Answering another question, she said regular surveillance of drug sale outlets is carried out to ensure detection of any fake or un-registered medicines.

She said a raid was conducted on a house in Islamabad and recovered ninety-three different medicines including vitamins, herbal and homeo medicines stocked there by the Shaheen pharmacy.  She said out of the recovered medicines, around fifty different medicines were not enlisted by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan. She said other major pharmacies operating in Islamabad were also inspected but no fake or un-registered medicines were recovered from them.

Responding to a question, Parliamentary Secretary for Commerce Alia Hamza Malik informed the House that government is giving subsidy of fifteen billion rupees on essential items through Utility Stores.

The House today passed “The Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill, 2020.

The bill is aimed at making provisions for raising alert, response and recovery of missing and abducted children.

Three bills were also introduced in the House which include, “ Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2020”, “The Associated Press of Pakistan Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2020” and “The Motion Pictures Ordinance (Amendment) Bill, 2020”.

The House will now meet again on Friday at 10:30 in the morning.