Railways to share mine related information with state govt
In a move that is expected to curb transport of illegally mined ore and bring in greater transparency in mineral raising and selling business, Railways have agreed to exchange information with the state steel & mines department through the electronic mode.
The sharing of information via electronic mode would obviate the need for exchange of information either manually or in transcript form prevailing as per the existing procedure.
Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) under the Ministry of Railways would develop the requisite software in consultation with the state government. The software is set to be readied within three months to ensure that the system for electronic exchange of mine related information is put in place by June this year.
The decision for electronic exchange of information between the Railways and state steel & mines department was taken at a recent meeting on 'Mineral Development' held in New Delhi.
Since data and procedures pertaining to iron ore mining has been fully computerized in the state, the steel & mines department was keen on sharing all relevant information with the Railways through the electronic mode.
The onus will be on the department to issue rake-wise transit permits to the Railways. The department will also offer information like unique identity number for the rake transit permit, name of the party despatching iron ore from the railway siding, name of the party receiving the iron ore, validity period of the rake transit permit, amount of iron ore permitted for transportation in terms of rakes and type of iron ore.
This information will be automatically transferred periodically from the server of the department of respective state government to Railway's server at CRIS in a secure mode through a fire wall. The information received from the state government will be stored in the Railway server at CRIS.
A party intending to load a rake will submit manual forwarding note along with a copy of the rake transit permit generated through state government system at the designated railway goods shed. The information will be fed into the Railway server by goods clerk for accepting the indent. The system shall validate the information with the available information already received from the steel & mines department.
The indent will be accepted only if the information is authenticated. In cases where indents have been accepted, wagon supply and loading will be done as per extant Railway rules and no further authentication will be required from the state mining department.
Railways would periodically transmit rake wise details of the iron ore transported, including names of consignee and consignor, unique identity number of transit permit, originating station, destination station, date of loading and quantity moved through a secure mode to the state government.