East Coast Railway incurs loss of over Rs 162 Crore due to 'undue favours'

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) suffered a loss of Rs 162.5 crore between 2018 and 2022, a CAG report said. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) attributed the huge loss to non-levy of shunting charges, irregular booking of rakes, and undue favour to a cleaning agency.

According to a report in The New Indian Express, ECoR lost around Rs 149.12 crore due to non-levy charges for shunting activity using railway engines. As per the records, around 22964 rakes were unloaded in the Paradip Port Trust siding (PPAP). Although utilization of railway locomotives for unloading at PPAP attracted shunted charges, ECoR did not raise any bills against the PPAP siding owners, resulting in loss of Rs 149.12 crore to Railways.

Moreover, the CAG report has alleged failure of ECoR in implementing the Railway Ministry’s instruction on applicability of tariff on siding distance resulted in loss of freight earnings of Rs 6.12 crore. The audit also pointed out that ECoR awarded a cleaning contract of Rs 7.26 crore to an agency.

The contract labourers were engaged at Sambalpur station, resulting in frequent labour strikes over non-payment of minimum wages. To pay the labourers, bills were passed based on the copy of letters sent by the agency contractor.

However, there was a mismatch found between the amounts of money shown in the letter and the actual amounts paid to the labourers, resulting in a loss of Rs 7.26 crore.

“Despite the instructions to ban business with the contractor, which was habitual of forging documents to get contracts, the sanitation work was awarded to the same firm for four years at Rs 7.26 crore,” the CAG report stated.

Meanwhile, no comments could be obtained from East Coast Railway in this connection.