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Indian Railways- In the audit report of CAG, the railways have been blamed for not utilizing their resources properly. The report said that the Railways has a large amount of vacant land, but it has so far failed to utilize it commercially.
New Delhi. An audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has raised serious questions on the functioning of Indian Railways. The report said that Railways has failed to monetize its vast vacant land and increase non-fare revenue. Railways has also failed to recover dues from private institutions. According to the CAG report, after analyzing the data of the audit period (2018-19 to 2022-23), it was found that till March 2023, a total of 4.88 lakh hectares of land was available with the Railways. Out of this total area, 62,740 hectares of land is completely vacant. The irony is that only a very small part of this vast vacant land, a mere 997.8 hectares (1.6 per cent), was handed over to the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) for commercial use.
The audit report found that the Railway Board had received a total of 188 proposals related to 657 hectares of land, but due to administrative slowness, only 59 proposals could reach the RLDA. This figure shows that Railways does not lack resources, but lacks the will and effective mechanism to convert those resources into revenue. The report has also raised questions on the efficiency of the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA). The audit found that out of the land handed over to RLDA, only 8.8 percent (87.76 hectares) could be allotted for development by March 2023.
Disputed land handed over to RLDA
According to the CAG report, many such lands were handed over to RLD which were already under legal disputes, ownership disputes or heavy encroachment. The regional offices of the Railways did not clear the hurdles before handing over the land, as a result of which the developers did not show interest in those properties. The most worrying thing was that till March 2023, development work could not be completed on even one of the allotted commercial sites. This situation gives a big blow to Railways’ ambitious plan to increase ‘non-fare income’.
Default in revenue collection, outstanding of ₹4,087 crore
The Railways not only failed to generate new income but also showed gross negligence in recovering the money it should have received. The CAG found that by March 2023, various zones of the Railways were to recover a total of Rs 4,087 crore from 269 private siding owners. Sidings are railway lines that connect private factories or warehouses to the main railway network. Private companies have to pay fees to the Railways for the use and maintenance of these sidings. The report says that if strict steps were taken on time, this amount could have been used for the expansion and modernization of the Railways.
