Cartels in procurement loot railways of Rs 10,000 crore a year:
E. Sreedharan
In the final report, the Metro man says the board was
set up originally to "make policies, plans, to lay broader
principles of railway management, to frame rules, to inspect and
guide the railways". "And today the board is not
performing these roles" he says.
On 'delegating tendering and commercial powers
to general managers and other operating levels' of
railways, Sreedharan has pointed out
that by centralizing procurement powers, the railway board has
accumulated enormous sum of money in the hands of few, and hugely
enhanced rent-seeking power that encourages corruption.
The committee heard views of senior officials.
"Procurement is through cartel only, list of
approved sources and cartels are synonymous ... there is no item in
which there is no cartel .. Committee feels that vendors thus
continue to fleece at will" Sreedharan says.
