The General Managers (GM) who head the 17 zonal railways and Divisional Railway Managers (DRM) leading the 68 railway divisions are to get more powers as recommended by the E. Sreedharan committee.
This is based on the recommendation of an interim report submitted by Principal Advisor to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) E. Sreedharan tasked by Railways to suggest a “proper system and procedure to ensure proper accountability and transparency at the General Manager’s level and other functionaries’-level for taking all commercial decisions, including tendering.”
Mr. Sreedharan submitted the report to Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu on Thursday.
‘‘Powers will be delegated to GMs and DRMs for speedy implementation of projects. Hope transparency and merit prevail,’’ the Minister tweeted from Delhi after getting the report.
A four-point term of reference given was to delegate powers to the operating levels to ensure efficiency in decision-making.
Tenders would not be dealt with at the Minister’s level, the November 13 order signed by the Joint Secretary of the Railway Board appointing the Sreedharan committee said.
Mr. Sreedharan has also been asked to suggest a manual of instruction to be followed to implement the decisions being recommended. The Management Information System (MIS) is to be followed for proper and time-bound disposal of cases.
It is learnt that the Railways have set in the process to rope in IT major for streamlining the e-tendering process to infuse transparency on the basis of the interim report.
The online tendering would check corruption and speed up implementation.
Tenders related to procurement are online and managed by a software developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). But, the tenders for construction are managed manually.
The Railways have asked for a final report within three months.
A report of another committee headed by economist Bibek Debroy is awaited.
