Islamabad: The National Assembly on Monday was informed that the double railway track project from Lahore to Peshawar would be completed under early harvest projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Dewaan Aashiq Hussain Bokhari said the completion period of the project was five years (2017 to 2021) subject to singing of an inter-governmental framework agreement. The dualization of track from Shandra to Peshawar ( 455 Km) was included in up-gradation of Main Line-I (ML-I) project under the CPEC, he added. He said important cities that fall on the track being dualized under the project, included Gujranwala, Wazirabad, Gujrat, Lala Musa, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Attock City, Nowshera and Peshawar. The track between Lodhran and Raiwind had now been dualized in two phases, from Lodhran to Khanewal (121Km) and Khanewal to Raiwind (246 Km), he said, adding that the Sahiwal-Raiwind section was opened for traffic on January 09, 2016.
The parliamentary secretary said at present, there were 1,290 laborers working on contract in Pakistan Railways. He said the wages, perks and privileges were being provided to the contract employees as per basic scales of pay under the rules including pay, house rent, medical allowance, conveyance allowance, leave travelling and medical facilities except entitlement for pension and General Provident Fund (GPF).