This is in order to ensure economy efficiency and transparency in the functioning leading to good governance, he says
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu said on Wednesday said there was a need to revisit current railway projects in order to ensure economy efficiency and transparency in the functioning leading to good governance.
Speaking at a conclave on the Management Issues in Railway Public Enterprises, Mr. Murmu said corporate governance matters had to be followed by the public sector undertakings (PSUs) of the Railways. “There is also a need to study the economic returns instead of financial returns of the PSUs. Usually, there are issues of cost overruns and time overruns and these have to be monitored...,” he said.
Stating that India was already the fastest growing economy in the world, according to a CAG release, Mr. Murmu said the country had one of the largest railway networks which was crucial for its overall transport and logistic planning. “While the Railways has a lot of responsibilities and makes immense contributions to the economy, the conclave will enable us to hold more meaningful interactions to create an efficient economy,” he said.
Mr. Murmu said every government entity had been created with an intention and certain corporations had been established for special purposes. However, a meaningful reform was a must. “There should be accountability and responsibility in terms of financial accounting and performance accounting. We are talking about the economics of returns and the ease of doing business, which are equally important,” he said.
The CAG said: “The auditor’s job is to look at what the different mandates of Railways are, and how you are performing not only in terms of capital deployment, but also how it is affecting returns. When resources are invested, it is our duty to look at it in the interest of building our country. We are trying to expedite the entire process of development. It requires that resources are efficiently and effectively used.”
‘Meaningful audit reports’
Stating that the “universe and scope of audit” needed to be expanded and cooperation of the Indian Railways and its PSUs would be important for bringing out meaningful audit reports, Mr. Murmu said audit should not simply remain “silent observations”; it should rather contribute to better governance. “Effectiveness of audit and the impact of audit helps in good governance as CAG’s motto is to have public interest served,” he said.
Deputy CAG (Railways) Ila Singh said at a recent meeting the CAG had observed that there were big infrastructure development challenges and non-conventional issues such as debt management in Railways and these should be taken up more comprehensively.
There are 46 PSUs in the Railways, of which 17 PSUs and two autonomous bodies are attending the present conclave. The focus of discussions are: raising funds and financing railway assets and projects; operational plan, debt management risks faced by the Railway PSUs; operational plan and risks faced by the Railway PSUs; management of debt taken for the creation of Railway assets; and challenges and opportunities in digitisation of the sector.
