18,500 railway officials under inquiry for corruption, second highest in south zone
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai: In the last three years, a little more than 18,500 railway officials across the country have been booked in corruption cases internally, with Chennai-headquartered Southern Railway earning the dubious distinction of having the second most cases (1,955), data tabled in Parliament last week shows. Northern Railway topped the charts with 6,121 officials under the scanner in the 2015-2017 period.
The internal mechanism of decoys, preventive checks and investigating complaints, irregularities to book corrupt officials under the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968, D&AR action in railway terminology, has gone tech-friendly, with the authorities also taking into account videos of Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) taking money for giving berths.
Sources say many corrupt officials are ‘trapped’ during the last months of their service and their pension benefits stalled if a D&AR is initiated. “The rules are such that even if a top official takes a decision to benefit the public, he can be tried for violating procedures. It’s a complicated scenario,” said a top Southern Railway official.
Sources said there have been recent cases where investigations were launched against officials after contractors remitted money into railway account to fund their farewell parties. While investigating complaints against top officials, who come under the Group ‘A’ category, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is also consulted. The CVC’s 2017 report said around 11,200 complaints were received against railway employees in 2016, the highest in the list of complaints against officials of central government agencies.
Railway sources say complaints are now coming in through web portals like Centralised Public Greivance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), directly monitored by the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions under the PMO.
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai: In the last three years, a little more than 18,500 railway officials across the country have been booked in corruption cases internally, with Chennai-headquartered Southern Railway earning the dubious distinction of having the second most cases (1,955), data tabled in Parliament last week shows. Northern Railway topped the charts with 6,121 officials under the scanner in the 2015-2017 period.
The internal mechanism of decoys, preventive checks and investigating complaints, irregularities to book corrupt officials under the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968, D&AR action in railway terminology, has gone tech-friendly, with the authorities also taking into account videos of Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) taking money for giving berths.
Sources say many corrupt officials are ‘trapped’ during the last months of their service and their pension benefits stalled if a D&AR is initiated. “The rules are such that even if a top official takes a decision to benefit the public, he can be tried for violating procedures. It’s a complicated scenario,” said a top Southern Railway official.
Sources said there have been recent cases where investigations were launched against officials after contractors remitted money into railway account to fund their farewell parties. While investigating complaints against top officials, who come under the Group ‘A’ category, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is also consulted. The CVC’s 2017 report said around 11,200 complaints were received against railway employees in 2016, the highest in the list of complaints against officials of central government agencies.
Railway sources say complaints are now coming in through web portals like Centralised Public Greivance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), directly monitored by the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions under the PMO.
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