Amid the critical observation by the Congress in the aftermath of the tragic train accident in Odisha over the expenditure on safety, the Indian Railways has stated it followed the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance on the safety fund utilisation.
The Congress party, referring to a 2021 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), has accused the central government of misusing funds intended for railway safety.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter to share the CAG’s findings, highlighting the alleged misuse of funds on “crockery, car rentals, furniture, laptops, and foot massagers”.
“This is how funds specifically meant for railway safety were used. This is the CAG’s finding,” Ramesh tweeted. He further pointed to the March 2021 CAG report, claiming that the Narendra Modi-led government had misused the funds from the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) on various items.
Responding to the Congress charges, the Railways said that there is a mandate of expenditure on safety, to be funded by RRSK, which was outlined in the Ministry of Finance guidelines.
“Besides priority safety projects like civil engineering works, signalling, mechanical and electrical works, there was a clear provision for expenditure on reducing chances of human errors in critical areas of operations, by improving working conditions and training of safety critical staff such as loco pilots etc. As much as Rs 1,861 crore was provided for human resource development,” the Railways maintained.
According to reports, some funds were utilised for upgradation of running rooms for train crew involving buying of furniture, crockery, foot massagers, electrical appliances etc.
Running rooms at stations are utilised by loco pilots and assistant loco pilots and other train staff. The loco drivers keep standing for hours together in trains. After they sign off from duty they go to the running room for a mandatory break, before the next duty.
Various railway zones have taken up several steps to improve the conditions of running rooms and made provision of various amenities and recreational facilities.
Defending the expenditures on upgradation of running rooms, both the railway unions have come out in support of the initiatives undertaken by the national transporter.
All-India Railway Federation general secretary Shib Gopal Mishra and National Federation of Indian Railways general secretary M Raghavaih have maintained that there were demands to provide all facilities to train crew in the running rooms, and so it was fulfilled.
The running rooms are to be provided foot massager along with other facilities for drivers to make sure that drivers are well rested before next duty. Crockery, foot massager, winter jackets etc were being provided based on the recommendation of the expert committee.
The Railways further stated that laptops and computers were also provided for track management system application besides training of safety manpower for training staff.
“As can be seen the expenditures listed are based on set guidelines for procurements and upgradation of running rooms and training staff etc, directly related with safety of train running and hence are not fripperies and are part of mandate,” the Railways maintained.