SUKKUR, Jan 30: The Pakistan Railways (PR), Sukkur, have been directed by the Sindh High Court, Sukkur bench, for providing the details of facilities provided by the PR for the up and down Sukkur express train, which ran between Sukkur and Karachi on a daily basis.

Justice S.A. Sarwana and Justice Zawwar Hussain Jaffri on Tuesday took the petition, D/914/2000, filed by former vice president Sindh High Court Bar Association, Sukkur bench, in which he had stated that despite growing complaints the Pakistan Railways had failed to improve the existing utilities and facilities and did not attach lower AC bogies despite the fact that the train provided the highest profits to the PR.

He had also pointed to frequent failure of its locomotive, which caused a delay of six to 10 hours almost every other day, and created hardships for women and children.

The division bench, directed the railway lawyers, Abdul Sattar Chohan and Mehboob Elahi Malik, to come up on March 6 with the following details:

1. Facilities provided on the Sukkur Express.

2. Revenue earned by the Pakistan Railways from 1-7-2001 to 31-12-2001 through the Sukkur Express up and down.

3. Details of the expenditures on the salary of engine driver, guard and other staff deputed for running the train.

4. Expenses incurred on the maintenance and improvement of the above train during the above period.

5. All the above information in respect of Up and Down Rawal Express for the same purpose.

FUNDS RELEASED: The first instalment amounting to Rs10.1840 million have been released by the government for purchasing educational material and furniture for primary and middle schools in Sukkur District.

This was informed by the Zila Nazim, Sukkur District, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah while presiding over a meeting to review the progress of development schemes being carried out under various programmes in the district.

Apart from that Rs1.998 million had also been released for free distribution of textbooks among boys and girls students of primary level.

Similarly, Rs0.0855 million have also be released for distribution of scholarships to poor girl students.

The Nazim directed the EDO, Education, to submit a comprehensive master plan so that facilities could be provided on the basis of need after completing all formalities.

The meeting was also informed that Rs18 million had been incurred on 15 schemes in the educational sector with 92 per cent utilization under the ADP 2001-2002.

The Zila Nazim also held a meeting of the District Advisory Committee at the DCO Office, Sukkur.

The meeting reviewed the progress of various development schemes and also identified various schemes in different sectors.

It was informed that 21 development schemes costing Rs21.630 million had been approved by the district Development Working Party under the KPP Phase-III.

MONITORING COMMITTEES: The Zila Nazim, Sukkur, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah held a meeting of the District Government Advisory Committee at a local hotel and constituted 16 monitoring committees for various departments comprising of the elected representatives of the district.

Chairman of 12 monitoring committees were selected on the occasion whereas the chairman of four committees could not be selected for want of quorum.

Ghulam M. Mako was selected as Chairman, Education Committee; Naseem Abbas Shah as Chairman, Health Committee; Syed Shafqat Hussain Shah as Chairman, Revenue Committee; Sardar Karam Elahi Khan Mahesar as Chairman, Agriculture Committee; Nisar Talpur as Chairman, Community Development Committee; A. Rehman Farooq Pirzada as Chairman, Law Department Committee; Ms. Nasim Akhter as Chairman, I.T. Committee; M. Umar Bandhani as Chairman, Finance and Planning/Development Committee; Gulzar Shaikh as Chairman, Works and Services Committee; Dost M. Bullo as Chairman, Insaf Committee; Haneef Memon as Chairman, Accounts Committee; and Yousuf Jagirani as Chairman, Sports and Culture Committee.

The Zila Nazim directed the newly-selected chairmen of various committees to hold meetings with the officers/officials of their respective departments and also monitor their performance so that the departments could deliver the goods to the people.