Prabhu orders vigilance probe into Ircon payments

New Delhi, Sep 16 (PTI) Railway Minister Suresh Prabhuhas ordered a vigilance inquiry into alleged irregularitiesover the payments of about Rs 422 crore made by IRCON toforeign consultants in two overseas projects. IRCON, a Railways PSU, had engaged consultants forexecution of two overseas rail projects and accordingly, itpaid about Rs 422 crore over the last seven years between 2007and 2014. However, an audit objection was raised over theappointment and payment to consultants, and the matter wasbrought before the Railway Minister last week. Taking the audit objection seriously, Prabhu has sought adetailed investigation in the case and directed theauthorities concerned to initiate action accordingly, officialsources said. Chairman Railway Board AK Mital has been asked to put inplace a robust and transparent system for appointments ofconsultants for overseas projects. Railways has already introduced e-tendering ande-procurement system to bring about probity and transparencyin the system. The idea is to make the entire procurement and tenderingsystem available online and do away with manual process, thesources added. PTI ARU SRY SCSRY