Country-wide surprise inspections in India have brought to light multi-crore irregularities at the Electronic In-Motion Weigh Bridges (EIMWB) where systematic manipulations in weighing freight has been detected.
The surprise checks revealed an intricate web of railway officials and private vendors operating the EIMWBs, private beneficiaries of the fraud, and others indulging in wrong doing.
A spokesman said that even a five per cent under-reporting of actual weight of freight leads to a difference of Rs 4,263 crore by 2012-13 figures. In 2012-13, Railways earned Rs 85,262 crore, transporting freight, which constituted 67 per cent of its total revenue. “Such a manipulation also leads to over-loading freight trains with adverse consequences for wear and tear of track and railway safety,” it was said.