Nitish has a long illegal track record

The fact is even the 44.5-km Fatuah-Islampur line was approved by Kumar against the advice of Eastern Railway. And he had ‘‘extended’’ the same line by using the excuse of modification in February 1999.

Kumar’s attempt to build the 123-km illegal railway line, running through Barh, his constituency, was first reported by The Sunday Express on May 18. Kumar, when asked, had said that the line did not require Planning Commission’s approval as it was just ‘material modification’ and he, as minister, was well within his rights to start projects outside the railway budget.

In February 1999, Nitish Kumar had suo moto approved the extension of Fatuah-Islampur line from Daniawan (Daniama) to Bihar Sharif via Chandi at the cost of Rs 40 crore and passed it off as material modification. The project invited adverse remarks from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

But this is only part of the story. It now transpires that even the approval of parent 44.5 km Fatuah-Islampur line was done by Kumar against the advise of Eastern Railway, which after conducting a survey had found the line to be economically unviable. As pointed out in the Eastern Railway study, the line was not justifed and would cause a recurring loss of about Rs 158 crore on the investment.

Kumar not only approved it and included it in the Works list of 1998-99, he also accorded it high priority. And incidentally, it was done within one month of his taking over as railway minister in March 1998.

The Railway Ministry secured Planning Commission’s approval on the grounds that the project would provide infrastructure ‘‘for development of a backward area and linkage of Buddhist pilgrim centres.’’ But not before objections were raised by the Planning Commission. It gave a conditional approval, refusing to give dividend payment exemption and reimbursement of operating losses.

Though the Commission expressed concern about the growing tendency of railways to bypass its approval and pushing through projects as material modification, its officials said there was little they could to prevent it.

‘‘The Expanded Board — which has to approve all railway projects over Rs 50 crore — was set by the Finance Ministry and a Cabinet note had clearly demarcated areas which needed clearance. And the railways has found this way of hoodwinking the planners in the form of material modification,’’ said a Planning Commission official. The Expanded Board has representatives of the Planning Commission and finance ministry, in addition to railway officials.

After Expanded Board, projects above Rs 100 crore also needed approval of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Even Lok Sabha’s Pubilc Accounts Committee, in 2001, had disapproved of sanctioning and execution of unremunerative projects under material modification.

Quoting Eastern Railway report on the Daniawan-Bihar Sharief material modification, CAG had raised objections stating that it was not warranted by any yardstick and should be approved as altogether a new line. ‘‘Material Modification on lines under construction could be allowed on certain specific grounds and circumstances, such as change in alignment, introduction or omission of any new station, change in the lay-out of yard, any departure from standard of construction already accepted etc,’’ the report stated. ‘‘None of the above criteria was relevant in this case. Extension of new line from Daniawan to Bihar Sharif via Chandi was an independent new line project. Moreover, being a new line project, it required prior clearance from Planning Commission and Ministry of Finance as well as approval of Parliament,’’ it added.

The report also pointed out that the total cost of the project (Rs 49.50 crore) was kept substantially low by not providing for the cost of land. ‘‘As against the original cost of Rs 49.50 crore given in the railways’ Pink Book for Fatuha-Islampur line, the estimate would require further revision at least to Rs.158.04 crore, including the Daniawan-Bihar Sharif line.’’