LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed has announced that a tax worth Rs1 to Rs10, varying according to different ticket prices, would be added to the price of train tickets as the Ministry of Railways’ contribution for the Diamer-Bhasha dam fund.
The federal minister made the announcement while speaking here at a deal-signing event in which the Ministry of Railways and the Jamshoro Power Company Limited (GENCO-I) made an agreement on coal supply.
According to the federal minister, the ‘dam tax’ would pour in an additional Rs100 million annually.
“The price of a Rs100 ticket will be hiked by Rs1 in order to collect money for the dam fund,” he wrote in a tweet, adding that “railway will donate Rs100 million to the dam fund annually”.
In today’s world, “if a beggar is given Rs10, they would throw it away,” said Rasheed. “So this would become the Ministry of Railways’ contribution to the dam fund.”
In response to a question as to why people were being forced to pay out of their own pockets instead of the ministry giving a contribution itself, he said: “I am ‘Sheikh’ Rasheed, not Malik Riaz, the Sheikhs always make such decisions.”
