COMMERCIAL PUBLICITY SCAM IN FIROZPUR DIVISION

Will Sh. Pradeep Kumar, General Manager, Northern Railway transfer the Commercial Publicity scam in Firozpur Division of Northern Railway wherein Rs.5.90 Crores have been embezzled by league comprising Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Firozpur, Sh. Arvind Sharma, CMI, Firozpur, Sh. Jaswant Singh, CMI, Jalandhar and Sh. Mohammad Yakub, Head Clerk, Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur, and Sh. Naresh Sharma, Chief Office Superintendent, Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur with the connivance of M/s. Shree Agrsen Advertisers, C-91/9, Wazirpur, Industrial Area, Delhi - 110052, M/s. Laqshay Advertiser and Sh. Bhagwati Enterprises, Partap Bagh Jalandhar City to CBI, Delhi / Chandigarh for in-depth investigation to book the culprits as well as recover the embezzled amount Rs.5.90 crores as Northern Railway Vigilance has no authority to take any action against the private contractors.

Northern Railway Vigilance has played a very commendable proactive role to confiscate the files relevant to the contracts of Commercial Publicity work allotted at Railway stations viz. Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar City and Jagraon Railway Bridge, Ludhiana and purposely a team comprising Six Senior Vigilance Inspectors along with RPF staff carried out surprise raids in Commercial Branch of DRM Office, Firozpur Division on 5.5.2014 and seized as many as 34 files. Apart this file pertaining to M/s. Laqshay Advertiser was got recovered from the residence of Shri Mohammad Yakub, Head Clerk, Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur (the dealer of the Commercial Publicity Work) at Jammu Tawi by deputing a raiding party under the leadership of Sh. Parshotam Singh, CMI - Jammu Tawi.

Though such raid by Vigilance has been denied flatly by Sh. Upjit Singh, Sr. Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Firozpur but ‘Railway Samachar’ has been in possession of irrefutable evidences affirming the said raids by Vigilance, Northern Railway. Press Clipping dated 6.5.2014 of Punjab Kesari, Jalandhar has also authenticated the raids by Vigilance, NR. The station wise detail of misappropriation along with Modus Operandi of embezzlement has been found as under:

1. Amritsar Railway Station:

A contract of publicity work at Railway station, Amritsar was allotted to M/s. Shree Agrsen Advertisers being a successful tenderer by Sr.DCM/FZR, letter no. MC-38007-ASR-08 dtd. 22.5.2008 for Rs.65,00,000 Per Annum with increasing @10% every year with the total licence fee for three years Rs.2,15,15,000. In this tender MCD (Mean Commencing Date) has been fixed wrongly i.e. contrary to the prevalent rules laid down for fixation of Mean Commencing date to enable the contractor to run his contract for four years against the allotted period of three years and that too without paying the license fee for the enhanced period of one year which comes to Rs.1 Crore approx. Besides this, one installment of Rs.42,90,000 for the period 1.11.11 to 2.5.12 had also not been got deposited in the Railway Earning.

Apart from this, the security money to the tune of Rs.6,50,000 which was supposed to be deposited by the contractor with the Railways before issue of allotment letter to the contractor to start his work in the form of fixed deposit duly pledged in favour of Sr. Divisional Finance Manager, Northern Railway, Firozpur, though the said fixed deposit receipt has been duly acknowledged by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, DCM/Firozpur as per record in the relevant file but the same was neither pledged in favour of Sr.DFM/Firozpur nor it was deposited the Divisional Accounts office as per manualized procedure for safe custody. But Shri Mohammad Yakub, Head Clerk, commercial Branch, Firozpur manually endorsed the pledging of FDR in favour of Sr.DFM/FZR which is unlawful and does not have any validity in this regard.

Thus the overall amount subjected to defalcation by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, DCM/FZR and others comes to Rs.1.30 crores.

2. Contract of Publicity work at Railway Station, Ludhiana:

A contract of allotting publicity work at Railway station, Ludhiana was allotted to M/s Shree Agrsen Advertisers being a successful tenderer by Sr.DCM/FZR, letter no. MC-38001-LDH-08 dt. 10.11.08 for Rs.85,15,575 Per Annum with increasing @10% every year for total value of Rs.2,81,86,553 for a period of three years.

In this case more flagrant frauds have been committed to satiate their rapacious greed for tainted money by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Firozpur and his associates as detailed below:

While issuing acceptance letter, the contractor M/s. Shree Agrsen Advertisers, C-91/9, Wazirpur, Industrial Area, Delhi - 110052 was asked to deposit the 1st half yearly instalment of license fee to the tune of Rs. 42,57,779 along with FDR of Rs.8,52,000/- as security deposit duly pledged in favour of Sr.DFM/FZR.

The said required amount has been shown as received and duly acknowledged by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Firozpur with thanks as per detail below:

Rs.30,57,779/- vide DD No. 577600 dtd. 22.10.08 of Citi Bank.

Rs.10,00,000/- vide DD no. 915660 dtd. 23.5.08 of Citi Bank.

Rs.02,00,000/- vide DD no. 990405 dtd. 10.4.08 of Citi Bank.

As a matter of fact the DD no.915660 dtd. 23.05.08 of Citi Bank, Global Consumer Branch, Jeevan Bharati, Connaught Circus, New Delhi was actually issued for Rs. Rs.19,08,890 to make payment of license fee for 1st instalment of the contract for display of publicity at Amritsar Railway station allotted to the same contractor vide file no. MC-38007-ASR-08. The Divisional Accounts Office, Firozpur also showed in their record that the amount of Rs.10,00,000 for the said Demand Draft no.915660 dtd. 23.5.08 of Citi Bank has been accounted for in the earning.

The amount of Rs.2,00,000 vide DD no. 990405 dtd. 10.4.08 of Citi Bank factiously as it cannot be possible that the amount of Rs.10,00,000 to have been shown as deposited vide the Demand Draft which has been actually been issued for Rs.19,08,890 and has already been accounted for payment of license fee for the contract of Commercial Publicity work allotted for Railway station, Amritsar. This fact can be verified from relevant official record. Also in this case the security deposit vide FDR no.520643 dtd.27.10.08 of Canara Bank worth Rs.8,52,000 was not pledged in favour of Sr.DFM/NR, Firozpur and the same was either not deposit with Sr.DFM/NR, Firozpur for safe custody or it was withdrawn from accounts for handing over to contractor for utilization in some other contract and acknowledgement given by Accounts has been crossed over the sr. no.3 of relevant file.

In this case also the Mean commencing date has also been fixed wrongly to enable the contractor to run his contract for extra one year and this fact is well established from the issue of allotment letter to the contractor which was in fact issued on dtd. 10.11.2008. More over the agreement to formalise the contract was also signed on dtd. 24.2.2010. As such the Mean Commencing Date cannot be fixed after 30 days from the issue of allotment letter or signing of agreement but in this case it has been deliberately fixed wrongly to over earn.

But the most astonishing fact which constitutes direct embezzlement of Rs.42,57,787 by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Firozpur, Sh. Arvind Sharma, CMI-Firozpur, Northern Railway Sh. Mohd. Yakub, Clerk, Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur (Dealer of the file) is that the amount of Rs.42,57,787 which have been shown deposited with the Railway vide Demand Draft no.264220 dtd. 3.3.2010 (Sr.no.17, 18 & 19 of relevant file) issued by Standard Chartered Bank, 41, Central Market, Punjabi Bagh (W), New Delhi - 25 was in fact never sent to Accounts office for proper remittance with the Railway.

Only photocopy of said of Demand draft has been placed in file to throw dust in the eyes of Railway administration. As a matter of fact that this entire amount was engulfed by this league comprising Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Firozpur, Sh. Arvind Sharma, CMI-Firozpur, Northern Railway Sh. Mohd. Yakub, Clerk, Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur (Dealer of the file) and verification to this fact can easily be made from the any branch of Standard Charted Bank which is also readily functional in New Delhi. You will surely be surprised to know from the Bank that the said draft worth Rs.42,57,787 was in fact got cancelled by the contractor M/s Shree Agrsen Advertisers and amount withdrawn by the contractor Shree Agrsen Advertisers and subsequently shared by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, DCM, Firozpur, Sh. Arvind Sharma, CMI-Firozpur, Sh. Mohd. Yakub, Clerk, Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur (Dealer of the file).

The license fee for the extra one year which was wrongly extended due to deliberate irregular fixation of Mean Commencing Date which is approximately Rs.1 crores has also not recovered rather it was misappropriated and shared by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Firozpur and his associates. The overall embezzlement in the contract of Ludhiana comes to Rs.1.52 crores.

3. Contract of Publicity work at Railway Station, Jalandhar City:

A contract of allotting Commercial publicity work at Railway station, Jalandhar City was allotted to M/s Shree Agrsen Advertisers being a successful tenderer by Sr.DCM/FZR letter no. MC-38001-JUC-2009, dtd. 14.01.2010 for @ Rs.77,55,555 Per Annum @ 10% increase every year with total value of Rs.2,56,70,887 for three years.

In this case MCD (Mean Commencing Date) has been fixed wrongly to benefit the contractor to run his contract for extra 10 months. Despite the fact the contractor as well as Station Superintendent/Jalandhar City both have certified that the work of display of publicity was started on dtd. 13.2.2010 whereas the MCD has been fixed w.e.f. dtd. 08.12.2010 which is obviously display mala-fide on the part of some other ex. commercial officers of Firozpur division and Sh. Mohammad Yakub, Head Clerk, Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur. The license fee for the complete last year i.e. 3rd year Rs.93,84,222 were also not recovered from the contractor and pocketed by Nodal Officer i.e Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Firozpur and Sh. Mohammad Yakub, Head Clerk, Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur.

Similar frauds have also been committed in the contracts of Publicity work allotted for Srinagar including DMU runs in the area of Kashmir Valley.

Lacs of Rupees were also been embezzled in these two contracts. Likewise Rs. 1 Crore has also been engulfed by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi and Sh. Mohammad Yakub, Head Clerk, Commercial Branch, Firozpur in case of contract of Commercial Publicity of Jagraon, Railway Bridge in Ludhiana to M/s. Laqshaya Advertiser.

4. Unauthorized display of Commercial Publicity at Level crossing gates of Jalandhar Area:

The complete detail for unauthorized display of Commercial Publicity at Uni-poles at Level crossing gates of Jalandhar Area along with physical facts are also enclosed for your appraisal.

This unauthorized display of Commercial Publicity at Unipoles of Level Crossing of Jalandhar Area for more than six years i.e. from 2007 to 5.11.2013 till this irregular display was detected by a vigilance team, Northern railway during their surprise raid on 5.11.2013 and total embezzled amount is Rs.90 lacs approx and this amount was exclusively shared by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Firozpur, Mohd. Yakub, Head Commercial Branch, DRM Office, Firozpur (Dealing clerk of said seat) and Commercial Inspectors of Jalandhar Area. This unauthorized display came to end when a team of Northern Railway, Vigilance surprisingly conducted a raid in Jalandhar City. This fraud was committed by Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Firozpur and Sh. Mohd. Yacub, Clerk Commercial Branch by conniving with the Publicity Contractor, M/s. Bhagwati Enterprises, Jalandhar City.

These frauds could have been easily avoided if the erstwhile Sr.DCM's and the present one Sh. Upjit Singh floated the tenders well in time and CMIs perform their duties strictly in according to rules with little sense of responsibility. But all remained engaged in cherishing fruit of booty.

5. Unflinching support of the then General Manager, Northern Railway:

Because of corrupt activities of Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi, Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Firozpur as reported by aggrieved commercial staff of Firozpur Division, the erstwhile Chief Commercial Manager, Northern Railway Smt. Vijaya Sinha put up the proposal of transfer of Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi to some non sensitive post but the proposal was set aside by the then General Manager. The role of Divisional Railway Manager, Firozpur is highly deplorable as he has been projecting Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi as an honest officer because of the fact that ever since he resumed DRM, Firozpur all the needs including his bread & butter have been arranged by Shri Poonam Chand Dudi. He has also been sharing all the illegitimate monetary benefits earned by Sh. Dudi and Sh. Arvind Sharma, CMI- Firozpur.

Both the perpetrators of the aforesaid frauds, instead of being subjected to harsh punishment for their corrupt deeds have been rather awarded as Sh. Poonam Chand Dudi has been transferred as posted on most coveted post i.e. Divisional Commercial Manager, Ambala whereas Sh. Arvind Sharma, CMI- Firozpur was graced with the personal visit of the then General Manager at his residence for an hour to enable him to avail the status of UNTOUCHABLE but surely it is such a grace to retaliate 15% of the tainted money paid to them.