Over 6,400 railway employees came under scanner in 2012

New Delhi: Over 6,400 railway employees are facing departmental proceedings for being allegedly involved in corruption during 2012. Departmental proceedings were initiated against 6,454 employees, including 195 gazetted officials, working in different zones and allied departments of the Railways between January and December 2013 for alleged corruption, according to a latest data.

Of the total of defaulting officials, a highest of 1,637 were working in Northern Railway zone, 698 under Western Railway, 685 under Southern Railway, 588 in Central Railway, 411 in South Eastern Railway, 332 in West Central Railway, 309 in North Central Railway and 274 in South Central Railway, the data said.

The departmental proceedings were also initiated against 243 employees working under East Coast Railway, 238 in North Eastern Railway, 217 in North Western Railway, 201 in Eastern Railway, 166 in North East Frontier Railway and 151 in South Western Railway among others, it said.

The action came after the Railways conducted 24,876 preventive checks in key areas like passenger reservation system, e-tickets (specifically refunds after preparation of charts), account and disposal of scrap, and traffic undercharges.

The railway vigilance wing effected a recovery of Rs 43.12 crore (till November 2012) as a result of these preventive drives carried out in various departments involved in dealing with people. The national transporter, which has over 13 lakh employees, is divided into 16 zones across the country for the purposes of operation and management.

It earmarked 14 thrust areas during 2012 for intensive vigilance scrutiny in order to prevent leakage of revenue, which includes commercial earning through tendering, misuse of various concessions including free passes, e-tickets and checks in general coaches to detect fraud in tickets.

The vigilance department has been keeping a watch on officials whose integrity is suspect as a measure to combat corruption, an official said. According to a data with Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the Railways has topped the list of government organisations in 2011 with regard to number of corruption complaints.

As many as 8,805 complaints of corruption were received against railway employees followed by 8,430 against bank employees and 5,026 against Income Tax officials, the CVC data showed.