Earnings - Comptroller and Auditor General of India

Report No.6 of 2006 (Railways)was brought to the notice of Western Railway (WR) by Audit in November2002. The Western Railway Administration [now North Western Railway(NWR)] referred the matter for revision of MWC of 'Edible oils' from 220quintals to 320 quintals in BCX/BCNA i.e. eight wheel wagons, to RailwayBoard in July 2003. Railway Board, however, revised the MWC of 'EdibleOils Division -E' only from 4 December 2003. Later on, the MWC of 'OilsDivision A, B, C & D, Hydrogenated Oil (vanaspati), Ghee and Butter oil' wasalso revised with effect from 1 May 2004. A comment regarding loss due todelay in revision of MWC of 'Mustard Oil' was made vide para 2.1.4 ofComptroller and Auditor General’s Report No.8 of 2004.Audit scrutiny of records of Kankaria and Mundra Port stations of WesternRailway for the period April 2002 to March 2005 revealed that 'SoyabeanSalad Oil' chargeable under 'Oils Vegetable Refined Division -B' was bookedto various stations in eight wheeled wagons and the quantity loaded in eachwagon ranged from 220 quintals to 352 quintals. Though the quantity actuallyloaded in some wagons suggested that the MWC of 'Refined Oils' also neededto be brought at par with 'Oils Divisions A -E', no action was taken either byWR or by Railway Board to revise the same. Thus, non-revision of MWC ofSoyabean Salad Oil to 320 quintals resulted in loss of revenue of Rs.2.95 croreduring April 2002 to March 2005.Moreover, according to revised classification introduced from 1 April 2005,all 'edible oils' booked in other than tank wagons were chargeable under class90W 2. Though the freight charges after 1 April 2005 have been levied at thefull carrying capacity of the wagons used, a review of booking of 'Edible Oils'revealed that Railway is now getting less freight than what would have beenrecovered under the old classification but with a revised MWC. The loweringof class brought down the freight earnings per eight wheeled wagon byamounts ranging from Rs.571 to Rs.19393. During the period 1 April 2005 to30 June 2005 alone, Railway suffered a loss of Rs.0.47 crore on this accountin respect of booking from four stations of Western Railway. Detailed analysisof financial impact of lowering the class does not appear to have been carriedout by the Railway Administration before giving up an available source ofrevenue due to the rationalisation of freight structure.When the matter was brought to the notice of Railway Administration in April2005, they admitted (September 2005) that there were cases of loading ofSoyabean Salad Oil up to and more than 320 quintals but attributed theloading beyond MWC of 220 quintals to shortage of wagons. They alsocontended that powers to enhance the MWC were delegated to ZonalRailways only in November 2004 and with the change in concept of MWC,the earning capacity has increased by about 14.53 per cent.The reply is not acceptable. Audit brought the matter regarding loss due tonon-revision of MWC of ‘Mustard Oil’ chargeable as ‘Oils Division-E’ to thenotice of Railway Board in August 2003 and the MWC of ‘Mustard Oil’ wasrevised to 320 quintals from December 2003. Though other vegetable oilswere also loadable up to 320 quintals, Railways failed to revise their MWC.The contention that change in concept of MWC has increased the earning34