Railway project falls victim to corruption
New Delhi: The Managing Director of the Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd is under the scanner for major corruption charges. The dedicated freight corridors are and ambitious project dedicated to increase the revenues of the Indian Railways by fulfilling the ever-growing transport needs of the country.
But VK Kaul, a bureaucrat handpicked by former railway minister Lalu Prasad, is now under corruption charges. The Central Vigilance Commission has found 'serious irregularities' in contracts awarded by Kaul.
Sources in the Railway Ministry told CNN-IBN that the CVC launched a massive investigation in early 2010 into three of the most expensive contracts awarded by Kaul.
The contracts are the Rs 605 crore issued to Soma Enterprise Ltd in December 2008 for design and construction of 54 major bridges in the Western Freight Corridor, Rs 781 crore awarded to BSCPL Infrastructure Ltd in December 2008 for design and construction of Dedicated Freight Corridor in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and Rs 133.86 crore award of a consultancy contract for the Eastern Freight Corridor to a consortium of international consulting firms in September 2008 for signaling and telecommunication system.
After a detailed investigation, the CVC has found that Kaul was given powers to conduct negotiations and accept tenders without any upper ceiling. High value contracts were awarded by Kaul without Board Meetings and approvals.
There has been negligible progress in construction of 54 major bridges on Surat-Mumbai Corridor but no has been action taken till now.
Rs 200 crore increase in cost projected by contractor has been approved but till date only two per cent work has been finished on the project.
The consultant has been paid in full despite not giving all details in the construction of 105 KMs of Railway Line on Mughal Sarai-Sone Nagar Section.
A Rs 100 crore increase in budget has been approved without any supporting details in the same project. Due to delayed progress, contractor is being given undue benefits.
Kaul refused to comment, but last week, the CVC has written a strongly-wordered letter to the Railway Board asking why action has not been taken. CVC's report was sent to the Railway ministry in May
The dedicated freight corridor project aims to connect India's busiest freight lanes from Mumbai to Delhi in the west and from Punjab to West Bengal in the east. But there has hardly been any progress since it was first conceived in 2005. The CVC's report make it very clearly that corruption is stalling progress. But the question is whether Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will act and act soon on her predecessor Lalu's man.
1 Response to "Railway project falls victim to corruption"
Post a Comment