CAG says Railways not following its own rules

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has criticized the Railways for lack of financial discipline in implementation of projects. The CAG in its report for the year 2012-13 which was tabled in Parliament yesterday, said that Railways is not following its own rules and regulations laid down in the financial code for execution of projects and proper accounting of transactions. It said the issue is significant especially as a large number of projects are under implementation. It also said, in the absence of proper records, it is not possible to ascertain expenditure incurred in executing a project. It also noted that railways fund balances had declined from 15,655 crore rupees in 2008-09 to 4074 crore rupees in 2012-13. The CAG has recommended that railways needs to put in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure that the provisions laid down in the codes and manuals are followed scrupulously to maintain financial discipline.

In its audit reports for the year 2012-13 tabled in the Parliament yesterday, the Government auditor has come out strongly on the Centre’s ineffectiveness in implementing hydrocarbons production-sharing contracts, failure to utilise satellite capacities for direct-to-home services, lacking financial discipline in Railways and allowing misuse of SEZ policy. It pulled up the Oil Ministry asking it for disallowance of Reliance Industries' KG-D6 cost of 357.16 million dollars. The CAG found that tourism Ministry's office in London issued contracts to the tune of about 97 lakh rupees to non-existent firms . Flaying the SEZ policy, Comptroller and Auditor General said large tracts of land acquired for special economic zones were de-notified but the resultant price appreciation benefited developers. It said that Indian Railways doesn’t follow proper accounting norms for financial transactions. CAG also slammed the Archaeological Survey of India for its failure to construct an Institute of Archeology, saying its lacklustre approach has cost an avoidable payment of 2.6 crore rupees.