LAHORE: National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways Chairman Syed Naveed Qamar said on Monday that a committee had been formed to monitor the working of the organisation.

`The committee will work independently and above party politics,` Mr Qamar told newsmen after visiting railways loco shop at Mughalpura Worl(shops here.He said Chinese engineers had been here to monitor the functioning of the locomotives and remove `minor` problems. The locomotives` real performance could be judged after a year or so, he added.

Terming the revival of railways board a good omen, Mr Qamar said the organisation was heading in the right direction. `However, we can express satisfaction over railways performance in the light of public feedback,` he said.

Earlier, presiding over a standing committee meeting at the Railways headquarters, Mr Qamar said the PR should brief the body about the financial health of the organisation after every three months.

Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique informed the meeting that a project had been initiated by the PR to computerise its land recordin collaboration with Punjab Urban Unit.

Mr Rafique said a countrywide targeted operation was under way to retrieve the occupied railway land.

Revamping of legal department was also in process so that land cases could be pursued vigorously, he added.

The minister assured the committee that steps had been taken to check recurrence of encroachment on railway land when a committee member said that a piece of PR land in Sukkur had again been occupied by grabbers.

Mr Rafiq suggested that sub-committees should be formed for a quick solution to different issues related to railways.

The minister said the PR would get over Rs39 billion as its budget and hoped the organization would meet all its requirements with the amount.

Railways Police InspectorGeneral Syed Ibne Husain said a total of 688 people had so far been arrested on charges of occupying railway land.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Sardar Irfan Dogar, Syed Saglain Bukhari, Rasheed Ahmad Khan, Syed Ashig Hussain, Dr Nisar Ahmad Jutt, Rai Mansab Ali Khan, Ramesh Lal, Engineer Hamidul Haq Khalil, Amjad Ali Khan, Syed Asif Hasnain, Naseema Hafeez and Sajid Hussain Toori.