2 min read
Pakistan Railways is facing a fresh governance scandal after an internal inquiry confirmed that over Rs. 110 million was wrongfully paid in bogus electricity bills, exposing serious lapses in oversight and compliance within key departments.
The issue surfaced during a routine audit of 2023 electricity payments, prompting a detailed investigation. Officials found that Pakistan Railways had been clearing highly inflated and unjustified bills despite having the systems in place to detect discrepancies. The inquiry has now highlighted deep-rooted negligence and a failure to enforce the organization’s rotation policy, which allowed certain officers to remain in sensitive positions for years.
From inquiry visuals and internal documents, an official remarked,
“These payments were cleared without verification, without meter readings, and without cross-checking consumption. The oversight failure is glaring.”
According to the report, Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) issued consolidated electricity bills for three Railway colonies, even though each residential quarter was equipped with individual meters. Investigators determined that these combined bills included unexplained adjustments and excessive fixed charges, resulting in massive overbilling.
The Electrical Department of the Railway Workshops Division paid these inflated LESCO bills without any verification, and officials responsible for review allegedly approved them blindly, causing multimillion-rupee losses to the national rail network.
Negligence has been specifically attributed to the Divisional Electrical Engineer Works, the Senior Electrical Engineer Workshops and the designated wireman officers who had been retained in the same posts for years, contrary to Railways’ mandatory rotation policy.
The full findings have been forwarded to Pakistan Railways CEO Aamir Ali Baloch for further action.
The Vigilance Directorate has urged strict departmental action against all responsible officers and called for immediate enforcement of the rotation policy to prevent similar frauds. The case is expected to trigger disciplinary proceedings and a broader review of bill-verification protocols across Railways.
