The Ministry of Railways has been pulled up by a parliamentary panel for failing to provide a completion timeline for around 3,000 rail bridges sanctioned at a cost of Rs 3,328 crores since 2015, reports Press Trust of India.
The panel asked the Railway board to strictly monitor all projects and fix responsibility for the delay.
The Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report on maintenance of bridges in Indian railways, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday (18 December), states that the ministry was silent on the issue of making the railways’ officers accountable for procuring equipment at exorbitant rates as they are lying underutilised.
The committee recommended a monitoring system at railway board and every zonal railways level. It also recommended strict monitoring of progress of projects to ensure their timely completion.
The committee was deeply dissatisfied by the ministry’s failure to commission the bridge management system even after 11 years. The committee, headed by Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge, asked the department to address the matter seriously and take all necessary effective measures to make sure the system is commissioned soon.