To curb graft, tendering of railway deals to go online

DELHI: Dreaded gangster Sriprakash Shukla built his criminal empire on illegal money earned from railway contracts worth crores in places with big railway establishments like Gorakhpur and Banaras. But this could be a thing of the past as the state-run transporter is set to start online tendering of all contracts related to civil works within a month's time.

Contracts for civil works worth around Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 crore are awarded every year by zonal railways with several often mired in allegations of corruption.

While there is stiff resistance against the move, the current railway dispensation is determined to put the online system in place within a month which will ensure participation of pan-India companies in the tendering process and break the local politician-official-criminal nexus.

Last week, minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha said that the online system would ensure transparency in awarding civil contracts. He added that with the tendering system going digital, it will prevent crime and corruption.

Sinha has tasked member (engineering) V K Gupta with the job of putting in place the online tendering system.

The move is significant as the opaque system of tendering promoted favoritism and nepotism which, over the years, led to political interference and gang wars in cities with large railway establishments.

In what had become a practice, the local mafia dons allegedly paid a commission of anywhere between 23-25% of the cost of the project to bag the tender and then sub-contracted it to firms after charging around 5%.

Soon after taking charge, the present dispensation, under railway minister Suresh Prabhu, had promised to weed out corruption through stringent action and by putting in place a transparent system.

Prabhu had said that by early 2016, all tendering for railways would be done online. "By the end of this year, or earliest, in the early part of next year, everything will be on the internet. All contracts will be on e-tendering platform," he had said.

Launching a web-based management system to monitor track maintenance and inspection last week, Prabhu said e-governance platform would ensure more transparency and accountability.

The minister said railways had launched another e-governance platform along with the launch of the e-enabled initiative.

He maintained that after delegation of powers, IT-enabled systems will ensure transparency and accountability and will also check time and cost overruns.

Aiming to weed out corruption, the transporter has engaged former CAG Vinod Rai to put in place stringent measures against corruption in the railways.

It has also appointed a one-man committee under 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan to suggest a set of procedures to be followed in tendering processes to ensure transparency and accountability. The panel concluded that improving and decentralizing the system with empowerment and accountability shall effect annual economy to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore in stores procurement and equal amount in works contracts.