Ex-CAG Vinod Rai to advise Railways on transparency

Former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai has been roped in by Railway Ministry as an advisor to suggest measures for bringing in transparency and improving efficiency in rail functioning.
A senior railway official said the one-man committee of Rai has been set up to advice the Ministry in making Railways more efficient and transparent.
Rai will also suggest improvements in systems and procedures to bring in better efficiency, productivity and accountability, the official said.
Rai was CAG during the UPA government and had exposed various scams like spectrum allocation and irregularities in the coal block allocation.
He has convened a meeting of all executive directors of the Railway Board on February 4 to have a discussion with senior officials.

Rai is being given an office in the Rail Bhawan from where he will discharge his new responsibility.

According to the official, Rai will not charge any fee.
With the setting up of the Rai Committee, Railways now has three expert committees functioning to find solution for various crisis that the national transporter is currently being plagued with. The other two committees are Debroy Committee and Sreedharan Committee.
Another expert body, Mittal Committee, appointed by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to suggest ways for generating additional revenue for cash-starved Railways, has already submitted its report.
While Debroy Committee is responsible for suggesting restructure in Railways, Sreedharan Committee is examining the vexed alignment problem between Katra and Banihal in the Kashmir rail link project.

For E Sreedharan, also known as "Metro man", this is his second assignment in Railways. He was earlier roped in by Prabhu to suggest changes to decentralise the decision-making process in tendering.