Graft complaints on the rise in railways

New Delhi: The complaints of irregularities in Railways are on the rise despite its claims of having a robust vigilance organisation which works continuously to curb corrupt practices.

There are about 25,000 graft complaints over the last four years registered in the Railways out of which 3,337 complaints received up to May this year, according to the data prepared by Railway Ministry. While 6,260 complaints of irregularities were received in 2010, the number rose to 6,735 in 2011 and further to 8,421 complaints last year. As a result of complaints, investigations and preventive checks, 6,559 officials were punished in 2010 and 7,372 were punished in 2011. The punishment meted out to 7,450 officials in 2012 and 2,066 officials up to May this year. Railways have also detected revenue leakage of Rs 98.74 cr in 2010, Rs 77.16 crore in 2011, Rs 53.51 crore in 2012 during the vigilance checks carried out to prevent such activities. Several steps have been taken to prevent corruption including regular checks and increasing use of technology in decision making and to improve systems to ensure greater transparency and accountability, a senior Railway Ministry official said. The official said e-tendering and e-procurement have been started as part of the leveraging technology. In-motion weigh bridges have been installed at rake loading points and roadside stations to prevent overloading cases. PTI