Khawaja Saad mulls spike in railways fares amid fuel crisis

LAHORE (Dunya News) – Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique on Tuesday said that railways fares could be increased by 7 to 8 percent amid the fuel crisis in the country.

Addressing a presser at Railways Headquarters in Lahore, the minister on recent talks between Russia and Pakistan over oil import said that after the settlement of the oil import issue with Russia, we all can expect that soon cheap oil would be available for the masses.

Khawaja said that railways faced a more than Rs5 billion deficit due to recent flood havoc across the country, adding that now the institution is facing obstacles to paying salaries to employees. He went on to say that the green line project will increase the revenue of the railways significantly.

Commenting on soaring inflation, Mr Saad added that the incumbent government taking effective steps but it will require a collective approach to curb the inflation cycle.