PWD complains railways’ milking C'wealth contracts

Though the Indian Railways has agreed to pay Rs100 crore to the Commonwealth Games organising committee (OC), becoming one of the lead sponsors of the event, it seems to be raking in more money from Games-related work than the amount it is paying for the sporting extravaganza.

The railways have demanded Rs163 crore from the public works department (PWD) for the construction of elevated roads and underpasses across railway tracks.

However, the PWD has contested the bill citing an RTI response by the railways in which the latter submitted it had charged the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) much less for elevated Metro corridor above its tracks. In his reply dated 12 May, the assistant divisional engineer of Northern Railway had submitted that the DMRC paid Rs140 crore for construction of overhead Metro lines in 20 locations.

However, in the case of PWD, the railways are charging Rs163 crore for crossing the railway tracks at four locations only, the PWD says. According to a senior PWD official the department had put forward its points and concerns. He further said that in the case of DMRC, the railways levied only 2 per cent supervision charges, but the railways were asked to pay around 19 per cent.

The PWD had also been asked to pay Rs103 crore for a 4-km elevated road project.

According to a senior department official, the PWD is allowed to carry out construction work only when the frequency of trains is less, but despite this they were being asked to pay block charges of Rs25 lakh per track per hour.