CBI should investigate corruption in dual freight policy

The CBI should investigate the remaining cases of "corruption" involving Rs 29,000 crore in implementation of the railways' dual freight policy (DFP) from 2007-08 to 2011-12, when the UPA was in power, and ensure that "guilty officials are brought to book", a parliamentary panel today said in its draft report.
Even though the financial loss of expected goods earnings is to the tune of Rs 29,236.78 crore, the CBI is investigating very few cases involving only Rs 305.06 crore, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in the report on the action taken by the ministry.
The committee is "shocked" to observe that "Railways Ministry was unable to prevent large scale irregularities and rampant corruption under the DFP during the period 2007-08 to 2011-12", the draft report said.

At a meeting today, a few members of the committee including BJP MP Nishikant Dubey also demanded that the role of former railways ministers Lalu Prasad and Mamata Banerjee in this scam should also be investigated.
Dubey had also raised the issue in Parliament in August this year.
The dual freight policy was framed with the objective to lower the cost of transport of iron ore for domestic players, but keep freight charges for export of iron ore in sync with its rising international spot market prices.

According to the report, a few manufacturing units which availed lower domestic freight rates in transport of iron ore instead of consuming it in their domestic units, exported it, which led to evasion of freight.

"The committee, therefore, desire the CBI to investigate all the remaining cases of irregularities/corruption in implementation of DFP and ensure that guilty officials are brought to book at the earliest," the PAC said.
In the report, the PAC also mentioned that Ministry of Railways has admitted that onus of conforming the end use of iron ore was on consignor and consignee.