LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique on Tuesday demanded punishment for “those who brought country to such destruction,” adding that no political force had the capacity to criticize such elements.

Addressing press talk after attending the inauguration ceremony of Railways’ Automatic Booking and Travel Assistant App “Raabta”, the minister said his ministry was suffering huge financial losses. “Main reason behind these losses is surging petroleum prices. We have faced a seven billion rupees’ loss due to recent floods,” the minister said.

The Minister said Railways are in a dire need of at least 40 billion rupees, but he didn’t expect federal government to release these funds. “There is immense [financial] pressure on federal government itself,” he said.

Saad Rafique revealed that his department was facing issues in paying salaries and pensions of employees owing to financial crisis. However, the minister assured that sufficient steps were being taken to overcome crisis and payments of the employees of railways will be cleared by today (Wednesday).