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The Indian Railways has ordered departmental action against more than 5,200 officers for their alleged involvement in various fraudulent practices in an attempt to check corruption and bring in transparency in administration.
A maximum of 855 officers, including 846 non-gazetted and nine gazetted, out of these were from Northern Railway followed by 640 from South Central Railway and 559 from Western Railway.
According to an official data updated till September 2009, out of 19,082 preventive drives carried out by Vigilance Directorate under the Railway Board last year, a total of 5,244 officers (5,082 non-gazetted and 162 gazetted) were booked for various charges including making of traffic undercharges and fraudulent payment to staff.
"The Vigilance department carries out regular checks and orders departmental action to bring in transparency and accountability in administration. We will intensify our drive in the coming months to check leakage of revenue," a senior Railway Ministry official said. There are about 13,000 gazetted and nearly eight lakh non-gazetted officers in Indian Railways which has a total strength of nearly 14 lakh officers.
Of the staff booked for fraudulent practises, 384 were from Central Railway, followed by 376 from Southern Railway, 307 from North Central Railway and 258 from South Eastern Railway zone.
The Railways has realised about Rs 52 crore (Rs 520 million) from its drives between January and September last year. Meanwhile, the Railway Ministry has identified eight sectors as thrust areas for intensive vigilance to monitor misuse of various concessions, handling of banking interface of Railways and electronic financial transactions under schemes like payment gateways, ATM and e-ticketing among others.
"Railways, in line with the instructions of Ministry of Home Affairs, every year prepare two lists -- Agreed and Secret list -- as a measure to combat corruption and to keep a watch on the officials whose integrity is suspected," the official said, briefing vigilance measures.
The Agreed List, prepared in consultation with CBI, includes names of officers whose integrity is doubtful. While, the Secret List includes names of officers on the basis of accepted inquiry reports or proved charges of corruption.
"Persons in Agreed and Secret List are not assigned any sensitive posts and their working is kept under constant surveillance," he said.