The Sordid Saga of Mr Sourabh Prasad

As per our information from the staff and officers of the famous and most important Waltair Division of East Coast Railway-

Mr Sourabh Prasad started exploring the avenues of making money through illicit means soon after taking over as DRM/Waltair on 21st July 2023.

While handing over charge to Mr Sourabh, his predecessor reportedly made a four-point request in view of the prevailing situation there:

• Zero tolerance for corruption and indiscipline.
• Not to allow any sort of harm to the great reputation of this glorious Railway Division.
• To carry forward all the various developmental/ infrastructure creation activities.
• Not to let down the staff, officers, customers and rail users in any way.

Unfortunately, Mr Prasad systematically reneged on all above four counts and did the most unprecedented act of felony which is unbelievable for any Waltarian.

First of all, started calling various officers to his rest house and tried to know what they could do for him.

Then, he allowed his wife to interfere in official work and to negotiate with unprincipled staff, contractors and vested interests.

Next, he behaved most unprofessionally by favouring some officers and staff while neglecting others on departmental lines.

Lastly, he started helping the notorious and rogue elements and re-instateing the most criminal employees who were punished (mostly dismissed) by his predecessors.

Thus, Mr Prasad not only lacked in integrity and character but displayed a total lack of administrative acumen.

Spending nights outside with #contractors and other fly-by-night #operators soon became his routine.

It’s quite apparent that his posting orders as #DRM of one of the most important Divisions of #IndianRailways had filled his mind with greed, arrogance and superiority complex.

The situation of his better half was even worse. She merrily interfered in day to day administration and negotiated deals with all and sundry.

Both tried their best to adopt the short cut to mint money through hook or crook. This is confirmed by many staff and officers on the condition of anonymity.

The present case is an outcome of his past records in Central Railway’s where he reportedly was the mediator in a huge case of #bribery by his boss who was arrested by the same agency a few years back, combined with his image at #Waltair as a very #inefficient, #corrupt, #greedy, #loose-character, #contractor-friendly, #mean, #selfish, #cunning and #weak-administrator.

This case is all about two separate contracts for heavy repair work of wagons at the Vishakhapattnam marshaling yard and Ore Exchange Yard.

In both of them, the contractors were his favourites from Mumbai/Pune areas – where he was posted earlier for many years – who failed to perform and resultantly got heavy penalties levied against themselves.

At their behest, Mr Sourabh Prasad called the honest and reluctant Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer, Mr Bhati to his chamber and pressurized him to waive off or curtail the penalties in lieu of hefty bribes as per his negotiation with these contractors.

This fact was known to one and all. Most probably, some #competitor of these firms or an aggrieved employee sounded the investigating agencies regarding this and hence the raids, recoveries and arrests took place.

His numbers were under #surveillance for years. Therefore, he was shadowed at Plaza hotel itself while receiving the booty. Then he was followed upto his flat at Badhwarpark Railway colony, Mumbai.

This shameful episode leaves the following questions unanswered:

1. Why did this man, Mr Sourabh Prasad choose to indulge in such nefarious activities even after occupying the most prestigious and rarefied post of DRM of Waltair Division?
2. Did he not understand the importance of heading the family of 17000 hard working and sincere railwaymen?
3. Why and how the system allows such weaklings, immoral and fallen characters to occupy the most coveted post once gloriously adorned by titans like Mr Stanley Babu, Mr Indra Ghosh, Mrs Chandralekha Mukherjee, Mr Mukul Mathur and last but not the least Mr Anup satpathy who became a darling and a heartthrob of all Waltarians including the rail users, the Press, the public representatives and the staff in a very short span and got the title of People’s DRM?
4. Why this man was not shifted or removed after a spate of #accidents in the #Division one of which resulted in the casualty of around 17 passengers due to the fault of the Divisional authorities as per the #CRS report?

Hope, such creatures will not manage any more to climb the ladder of power, prestige and glory under the prying eyes of the Hon’ble #RailMinister and the Hon’ble #PrimeMinister who have avowedly adopted the #Mantra of ‘Zero tolerance’ for #Corruption !

#Picture on Top: Mr Saurabh Prasad (in circle) on inspection. Source: Google.