ISLAMABAD: The dream of Prime Minister Imran Khan to diversify Pakistan Railways crashed as Khan accepted the resignation of Jamshed Inam Shaikh as the advisor on Railways after employee unions had started protesting against him for introducing reforms.
The prime minister had appointed Shaikh in December to help identify ghost and additional employees in Pakistan Railways. However, according to sources in Pakistan Railways, the ambition to identifying the ghost employees did not play in favour of the advisor as the railway unions started protesting against him.
In the first phase, Shaikh identified 422 ghost employees. He also found out that out of 65,000 employees, 3,000 did not come to the office and worked from home.
According to informed sources, the Advisor wanted to introduce computerised attendance for railway employees to streamline matters. However, the sources said the move to introduce reforms in Pakistan Railways was met by stiff resistance from employee unions.
The prime minister had appointed Jamshed Inam Shaikh to identify ghost and additional employees in Pakistan Railways.
The last straw for employees was when he decided to introduce computerised attendance, which led to protests intensifying even further, and ultimately, to his resignation.
The government has allocated Rs30,025.590 million in funds for Pakistan Railways for the execution of 38 ongoing and new projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2021-22) in the current year’s fiscal budget, as it seeks to revive the institution.
