Rly board chief's farewell gift is a bungalow

Rly board chief's farewell gift is a bungalow
BHAVNA VIJ

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 5: Top Railway officials will now continue to occupy their plush official bungalows even after they retire. This is the gift which Chairman, Railway Board (CRB) V.K. Agarwal has given himself and other Board members, on the eve of his retirement. The CRB, equivalent to Principal Secretary to Government of India, is retiring on August 31.

The CRB's proposal, to remove the one-year limit on occupation of the house after retirement, was cleared in the meeting of Board members on July 27 with a thumping approval. A lone voice of dissent in the previous meeting was effectively quashed. Sources said that Member (Mechanical) Ashok Kumar, the senior most member likely to succeed the CRB, was the only one who did not agree with the proposal initially. But the Board was still in favour of approving it since they had the majority.

It was when the MM insisted that his dissent be put in writing that the Board decided to defer the decision to the subsequent meeting. The CRB, sources say, had a meeting with the MM. In the next meeting on July 27, the MM reportedly raised no objections and the proposal was cleared unanimously. So, now the retiring CRB and the members can hold on to their official houses indefinitely even after retirement. CRB Agarwal, when contacted today, said that he was not aware of any such decision. ``It is not necessary that the CRB, as the head of the Board, knows about all the decisions taken by the members,'' he said.

Most of the official railway bungalows are in Moti Bagh. Agarwal, however, has been staying in the house (1, Railway Colony, Sardar Patel Marg) meant for General Manager, Northern Railway. He reportedly did not vacate the house even after left that post. The house earmarked for GM, Northern Railway, is supposed to be the best in all respects.

Sources said that CRB was following the precedent set by a former CRB and that he even defended the proposal giving his predecessor's example.

Originally, the CRB and other Board members could retain their houses for only eight months. This period was increased to one year by former CRB C.L. Kaw on the day he was retiring -- April 30, 1997. The same day he had also issued orders, entitling all serving and retired Board members to a Platinum Pass. This pass permitted any number of journeys for them and their families in I AC. The Platinum Pass order was subsequently quashed by Delhi High Court following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

The Railways has more to blame former Kaw for. He also set the precedent of making the Railway pay even for electricity after retirement.

Kaw left a pending electricity bill of Rs 1.10 lakh after he vacated his official house 13 months after retiring. Since he refused to pay the bill, the Board after much deliberation changed the rules last year, making the railways pay for electricity even after retirement.

The railways, while the officer is in service, pay the electricity bill for only one room of the house which he can use for official purposes. He is supposed to pay the electricity bill of the remaining house himself. There are separate meters for differentiation.

``It is very common that the bill for one office is much higher than the rest of the house. Many officials hitch the electricity of most of the house on the official meter and the bills which the railways pay are as high as Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 a month,'' an official said. Incidentally, files on such matters are cleared by the Board members themselves.