Wise leaders should not have incompetent, stupid bodyguards having their own interests
The tenders finalised by the Zonal Railways and Production Units fall foul of ECI instructions-clearly yes, no doubt
On 29 March, 2024, #Railwhispers published important article, “While Govt Fights Electoral Bond Narrative-IR Awards 1000s of Crore Purchase Orders During MCC”, which exposed the #incompetence of #railway-stores, #GeneralManagers of #ProductionUnits, #Railway-Stores-Directorate at #RailwayBoard with Member, Traction & Rolling Stock (#MTRS) as its head.
We explained to the readers that in last three general elections, the stand of Election Commission of India (#ECI) has been same-no awards of #tenders, no #purchase-orders to be issued unless specifically permitted by the #ECI on case to case basis.
We #exposed that despite #ECI clearly mentioning in their reply of 22 March, 2024 that “finalisation and award shall be deferred till completion of election process”, various #ProductionUnits have awarded hundreds of purchase orders.
#Railwhispers Impact
On publication of our report dtd. 29 March, 2024, #RailwayBoard again wrote to the #ECI on 02 April, 2024.
The second reply received from #ECI further elaborated what was known from day one – finalisation of contracts towards train operations, execution of safety works and day-today maintenance is permitted.
However, this #clarificatory reply implicates #IndianRailways and proves our point!
How many of Production Unit tenders fall in the #category of permitted #tender finalisation criteria? Barely any except for tenders for spares.
Does this mean that the #tenders finalised by the Zonal Railways and Production Units fall foul of ECI instructions – clearly yes, no doubt.
In fact, so #brazen are railway officers that Integral Coach Factory (#ICF) is about to finalise a #single-tender of #consultancy!
Why this is case of incompetence
#IndianRailways has a highly empowered #Stores service – their only work is to #purchase and few other associated works. Almost every #tender has certain #margin to increase the #quantity. All the General Managers (#GMs) keep an eye on tender positions and elections do not normally happen at short notice. Then why production units’ routine tenders could not have been #preponed or #postponed with three month requirement due to Model Code of Conduct (#MCC) period covered by provision of buffer? Dedicated stores officers could have planned tender timelines easily.
How can #procurement of #material for #rolling-stock production satisfy the conditions laid by the ECI? By what stretch of imagination is Production Units (#PUs) #procurement related to #Safety and day-today Operations and Maintenance (O&M)?
Looks the #GMs of #ProductionUnits, #Stores-Directorate of #RailwayBoard, #MTRS, #CRB have been utterly #ignorant or #complicit or #incompetent. But as we said in past, “wise leaders should not have incompetent, stupid bodyguards having their own interests”. The current management of Indian Railways has again embarrassed the Government.