New Delhi: Railways suffered revenue loss of about Rs 2486.68 crore due to irregular grant of concessional tariff rate for booking of iron ore traffic during 2008-12, the Comptroller and Audit General has claimed, pointing to “misuse” of dual pricing.
According to CAG report, Railways allowed 358 parties to avail domestic rate for transportation of iron ore despite non-submission/partial submission of the prescribed documents which resulted in revenue loss to the cash-strapped national transporter.
Due to the dual pricing introduced from May 2008, the cost of transportation of iron ore for export was on an average more than three times the cost of the transportation for domestic use.
However, CAG observed a number of deficiencies like booking of iron ore at domestic rate without obtaining any of the prescribed documents.
While 153 parties did not submit any prescribed documents to avail domestic rate for carrying iron ore, 205 parties submitted some of the documents required for the concessional rate.
Railways allowed 153 parties to avail the domestic rate without submitting any of the prescribed documents before booking and delivery of 699 rakes carrying iron ore during May 22, 2008 to March 31, 2012.
