Railway Board

Template:Infobox railway company

The Railway Board is the apex body of the Indian Railways. It reports to the Parliament of India through the Ministry of Railways headed by the Railway Minister of India.

Current members

Current Railway Minister of India :

Present Members of Railway Board :

  • Chairman of Railway Board: Ashwani Lohani[1]
  • Member (Rolling Stock): Rajesh Agrawal[2]
  • Member (Traffic): Girish Pillai
  • Member (Engineering): M.K. Gupta
  • Member (Traction): Ghanshyam Singh[3]
  • Member (Staff): S.N. Agarwal
  • Finance Commissioner: A.K. Prasad
  • Director General (RHS): Dr.Anil Kumar
  • Director General (RPF): Dharmendra Kumar, IPS
  • Director General (S&T): N. Kashinath
  • Director General (RS): V. P. Pathak
  • Director General (Personnel): Anand Mathur
  • Secretary: R Sahai

History

British Raj

In 1901, on the recommendations of Sir Thomas Robertson Committee regarding the administration and working of the railways, an early version of the railway board was constituted, with three members serving on it at first. In 1905, its powers were formalised by Lord Curzon's government. It consisted a Government Railway official, who was the Chairman of the Board, a Railway Manager from England and an Agent of a Company Railway. The Board was placed under the Department of Commerce and Industry of the British Indian Government. In 1921, a reorganisation of the Railway Board was carried out, and a Chief Commissioner of Railways was appointed, who was solely responsible to the Government for decisions on technical matters and for advising the Government on matters of policy. Pursuant to the Acworth Committee's recommendations in 1921, the Railway Board was reconstituted with effect from 1 April 1924. The reconstituted board consisted of the Chief Commissioner, a Financial Commissioner and two Members, one responsible for Way and Works, Projects and Stores and the other for General Administration, Staff and Traffic subjects. In 1929, an additional post of a Member was created and he was placed in charge of Staff matters, so that the Member in charge of Traffic could concentrate fully in transportation and commercial matters. During this time, Frank D'Souza became the first Indian member of the board.[4]

After independence

In April, 1951 the post of Chief Commissioner was abolished and the seniormost functional Member was appointed the Chairman of the Board, thus the strength of the Board was reduced to four. In October 1954, the Chairman of the Board was made responsible for decisions on technical and policy matters, with the status of a Secretary to Government in the Ministry of Railways. One more Member was also added and the strength of the Board again became five.[5] In 1988, a new Member was added to look after the Electrical and Signal & Telecommunication aspects of the Railways. Many Indian are emotionally in touch with India Railways.

Controversies

On 14 February 2008, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, admitted to violating Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) regulations by making improper payments from its subsidiary Pioneer Friction Limited, based in Calcutta India, to government officials of the Indian railway board. Payments were made in order to obtain and retain business with the Railway Board and curb taxes.[6]

On 3 May 2013, the CBI arrested Railway Minister's nephew, Vijay Singla for accepting an alleged bribe of ₹9 million (US$130,000), which was part of a larger sum of Rs. 100 million (US$16.2 million) from a middleman on behalf of Mahesh Kumar, in return for favour to get appointed as Member (Electrical) of the Railway Board.[7][8][9] Mahesh Kumar was suspended, although the Railway Board clarified that no rules had been bypassed during the appointment of Mahesh Kumar.[10]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ http://pib.nic.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1548033
  3. ↑ http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,304,365
  4. ↑ The Goans of Karachi, have a history of their own Goas of Pakistan. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  5. ↑ Rao, M.A. (1988). Indian Railways, New Delhi: National Book Trust, pp.49-54
  6. ↑ Department of Justice (14 February 2008). "Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation Agrees to Pay $300,000 Penalty to Resolve Foreign Bribery Violations in India". Department of Justice.
  7. ↑ "Bansal's nephew remanded in CBI custody, Congress core group meets". The Times of India. 4 May 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew booked by CBI for accepting Rs 90 lakh bribe – The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  9. ↑ Railway Minister Pawan Bansal's nephew arrested by CBI for allegedly accepting bribe | NDTV.com
  10. ↑ "Mahesh suspended, nephew arrested; What about Pawan Kumar Bansal?". Dainik Bhaskar. 4 May 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
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