The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the advertisement contracts awarded in the Mumbai division for the last 25-30 years were in violation of the First Come First Serve (FCFS) policy.
A parliamentary committee has recommended CBI inquiry into award of contracts of advertisements in the Mumbai division of the railways as it found serious irregularities in the award of contracts.
The report on commercial publicity in Indian Railways stated that there was no transparency in award of contracts in Central Railway and Western Railway-zones under which Mumbai division of railway falls. "No station of Central Railways has been given (advertisement contracts) on FCFS basis out of a total 831 identified locations of hoardings at various stations and other locations," the report said.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the advertisement contracts awarded in the Mumbai division for the last 25-30 years were in violation of the First Come First Serve (FCFS) policy. The PAC report, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, also recommended immediate termination of all such contracts which were allotted in violation of the FCFS policy.
The committee said that though the alleged fraud has been inquired into by the Central Vigilance Commission and action has also been taken against a few officials, CBI inquiry was needed to look into the "the whole gamut of FCFS policy". Advocating strict action for erring contractors and officials involved in the alleged fraud, the committee said, "Unless and until exemplary punishment is awarded to the corrupt officials from the top to the bottom, irregularities in commercial publicity in railways cannot be rooted out."
The PAC headed by Prof KV Thomas, in its report, also highlighted the "lackadaisical attitude" of the railways in utilising its vast resources for generating additional revenue through advertising. The report pointed out that delay in tender finalisation for advertisement at stations resulted in losses to the public transporter. It also slammed railways for the lack of coordination between various zones and said that railways should "shed the nonchalant approach of condoning delays" in finalisation of contracts owing to precautionary approach. The PAC also observed that the menace of unauthorised displays at the stations was a constant source of leakage of revenues of railways and the railways need to fix the problem.
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