Need to revisit railway projects: CAG Murmu

New Delhi [India], May 10 : India's resources have to be efficiently utilised for the country to become a fully developed nation, said Girish Chandra Murmu, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), on Tuesday.

Speaking at a conclave on the Management Issues in Railway Public Enterprises here in the national capital, Murmu said that "India is already the fastest growing economy in the world. It has one of the largest railway networks, which is crucial to the country's 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 mengful interactions to create an efficient economy."

He said that every government entity has been created with an intention and certain corporations have been created for special purposes.

"But at the end, we must achieve a mengful reform. 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 is equally important," the CAG said.

He added, "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 them 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.

CAG Murmu said that corporate governance matters have to be followed by the PSUs of the Railways.

"There is also a need to study the economic returns instead of the financial returns of the PSUs. Usually, there are issues of cost overruns and time overruns and these have to be monitored, he added. There has to be economic efficiency and transparency in the functioning leading to good governance. In fact, there is a need to revisit the current projects," he said.

The CAG added, "The universe and scope of audit need to be expanded and cooperation of the Indian Railways and its PSUs would be important for bringing out mengful audit reports." Murmu further stated that audits should not simply remain 'silent observations'; rather, it should contribute to better governance. The effectiveness of audit and the impact of audit helps in good governance as CAG's motto is to have public interest served".

Speaking on the occasion Deputy CAG (Railways), Ila Singh stated that at a similar meeting a few days back CAG observed that there are big infrastructure development challenges and non-conventional issues like debt management in Railways and these should be taken up more comprehensively.

"In all, there are 46 PSUs in Railways of which 17 PSUs and 2 Autonomous bodies attending this conclave. She further stated that the focus of discussions are raising funds and financing railway assets and projects, Operational Plan, debt management risks faced by the Railway PSUs, (3) Operational Plan and risks faced by the Railway PSUs, management of debt taken for the creation of Railway Assets and challenges and opportunities in digitization in Railway Sector," he said.

Chairman and CEO Railway Board other senior officers of the Railway Board and the PSUs of Indian Railways as well as senior officers of the CAG office participated in the conclave.