Mamata for Didi?

Singh-ji's 'Will Didi Slay the Railway Demon' is spot on in its recommendations of how Railways can stop its procurement leak running over Rs. 50,000 crore in the last decade. Well, it is almost spot on. Singh-ji has made one error. It might be a strategic error, but it is an error nonetheless. His articles assume that the Minister herself wishes to clean up Railways. Big mistake. Didi is interested in only one thing. While it is true that it is bureaucrats that have eaten and continue to eat over 90% of the kickbacks involved in Railways procurement and operation, one cannot be so naive to think that her party has not begun to channel Railways booty into its party-fund for the greater glory of Bengal. By not attacking the Minister directly Singh-ji may have been able to get his news printed, but this has prevented the issues he has exposed from taking a political and thereby public turn. One must turn to a different kind of hack, Suresh Tripathi, not without his own problems, to understand what Singh does not say. Tripathi's writings in his publication Rail Samachar are an informative window into the inside world of Indian Railways. He shows the kind of officials Didi has used to get her Railways work done. Chairman Railway Board Vivek Sahai, enmeshed in recruitment corruption found no problem in becoming Didi's chosen one for CRB or take the continued existence of RDSO Director K.B.L. Mittal legendary for his own exploits. Tripathi also exposes what it is in Didi's management that led to the latest rounds of RRB scams. Bureaucrats are still ruling the roost in Railways gobbling up far more than they can digest. But, Didi is not clean, because her clean image is being used for a feast by both bureaucrats and her party fund collectors. So should there be mamata for Didi, Singh-ji?

Indian Media Wakes Up to Railways Corruption

News of the Great Railways Procurement Robbery has leaked. Will our plumbing job help the nation plug its Railways leak? NDTV belatedly followed The Statesman's initial and comprehensive break to release what it had been holding on to for weeks. The coverage by NDTV shows that since the scam volume is so big, Rs. 5,000 crore annually, they were unsure about it even while they were running the story. This explains why they held on for so long. No such problem for The Statesman, who went whole hog. Dainik Bhaskar then simply stole the NDTV article. The NDTV kicker was when they got Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniappa to call the entire Railways procurement system 'transparent.' Gill fell off his chair in peals of laughter. I can still hear him giggling from some corner of the earth. Mr. Muniappa you have done a great service to the nation by your comments. You, in fact, do not know just how much you have helped. We salute your transparent transparence. For more coverage of the scam so far, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. Some more plumbing to do, I, Jack, have got to go. Scams away...

THE FIRE RETARDANT SCAM

When you step onto a Railway coach next time, remember that much of the grime laden upholstery and fittings that you see are worth their weight in gold, given the amount of money already spent on them over the years. The dirty floors you step on these days made some suppliers multi-millionaires. The latest form of this age-old racket is courtesy a letter issued under the mandate of ex-Member Mechanical R.K. Rao and ex-Finance Commissioner R. Sivadasan in February 2007. This letter gifted pre-fixed suppliers an approximate cost in some cases more than double the market rate for 7 items labeled 'fire-retardant'. The business has already run close to Rs. 1,500 crores in the last 3 years. Even after accounting for reasonable profits, the scam runs anywhere between Rs 500–1,000 crore. The items upgraded to allow for 100% over-pricing and huge kickbacks are flooring sheets, cushion fillings made from recron, seat covers, suspension washers, silent blocks, and brake gear bushes. This letter is an anomaly within Railways, as it shows that the estimates, usually never given like this, were not prepared independently through a costing analysis, but likely prepared by the suppliers themselves. This letter is itself an open admittance to the scam.

The Fire Retardant Railways Scam

THE ODOUR CONTROL SCAM

Aaloo had a Khansamah. Apart from cooking wonderful food, the Khansamah is believed to have charged 2 l's for arranging a meeting with the Potato. This is the route through which 3 suppliers, all agents of one multinational are believed to have got final approval for contracts to make a killing selling odour control systems for Railways toilets. For the past 5 years they have sold lakhs of smell dispensers as well as their fragrances to Railways at 10 times the cost at which these products are sold in London. In early 2010 Railways vigilance appear to have decided that enough money had been made by the bureaucrats and suppliers concerned. This is that document. When you visit a Railways toilet next time (try not to think of Jack and Gill) remember: the stink you generate, is big money - big & dirty.

Odour Control System Scam Document

Annual Corruption of Rs. 5,000 crore Statistics

This document, prepared by a serving officer shows statistics of the Railways procurement robbery. Even after underestimations, and not including the leaks taking place in the purchase of fuel, the figure arrived at is Rs 5,000 crore annually.
Stats - How Railways Loses Rs. 5,000 Crore Annually to Corruption

THE GREAT RAILWAYS PROCUREMENT ROBBERY

The Railways has been a cash-cow for decades. After the reign of C.K. Jaffer Sharief, it is not the Railway Ministers, but the top Railways Bureaucrats who have made the most money. Conservative estimates put the figure of revenue loss due to exorbitant over-pricing allowed to chosen corrupt suppliers at higher than Rs. 50,000 crores in the past decade. It is primarily at the the Railways Research & Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow, and in the Railway Board, New Delhi, that competition is closed, suppliers fixed, for suitcases of cash and brothels of prostitutes. This document (a letter + annexures), written by a senior serving procurement officer, provides a structural view into how this corruption takes place, and how, using conservative and educated estimates, a minimum of Rs. 5,000 crore leaks out to suppliers and for kickbacks to bureaucrats every year.

Railways Procurement Scam (Letter to Minister)

Railways Procurement Scam Annexure