LAHORE:
The incidents of theft in the Railways of Pakistan have reached alarming levels, with moving trains, stationary carriages and even sophisticated computer -based signaling systems that fall on criminals, the insidents revealed on Wednesday.
Despite the high statements of the new Railroad Minister, both the Railway Police and the administrative machinery seem to be in a deep sleep, unable to contain the growing wave of potentially paralyzing crimes of rail operations.
The sources said that the state of things continues to deteriorate as investigations reveal that not only passengers were being drugged and stolen aboard trains in motion, but that specialized copper wiring and other key assets were being stolen in the middle of navigation.
“Public relations carries almost 50 million passengers every year and transports thousands of tons of load from Karachi to remote parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, security measures throughout the network lack severely,” they said.
Daily robberies of valuable materials of several trains, railroad stations and facilities, including Lahore, have become disturbingly routine.
Last week, it was reported that the valuable stolen load of loaded cars parked at Pattoki station. The 56 wagons had been on their way from Karachi to Lahore and were stationary in Pattoki for a few hours when the thieves hit.
As a result, the wagons, stripped of their equipment, became non -operational and had to fill with replacement materials before being sent again.
Similarly, in the old railway shed, key components, such as power cables and cats, were stolen. In addition, the computer -based interlocking system was not saved, with thieves digging underground to extract its crucial parts.
In another incident, the electric cables of the old diesel shed were stolen.
Public relations sources said the situation was serious, warning that repeated and growing robberies of the underground components of CBI represent a serious threat to the integrity of the system. They also warned that maintaining infrastructure has become extremely difficult, if not impossible, due to infractions.
Meanwhile, in the light of the deteriorated situation, the railway authorities have urgently asked the railway police to implement immediate and strict measures to safeguard this critical infrastructure.
In an attempt to address the crisis, the inspector general of the Rao Tahir police convened an emergency meeting to discuss strategies to stop the theft of material.
During the session, the theme of the distribution of a timely uniform and budget allocations was also discussed.
The IG instructed all SPs to focus specifically on preventing theft of railway materials, especially the signal equipment, which has been repeatedly directed.
