RailTel official under CBI lens in ‘mobile scam’
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a preliminary enquiry against unknown officials of RailTel Corporation of India, a ministry of railways enterprise, for alleged irregularities in giving a contract to one of the biggest private telecom service providers for providing CUG (Closed User Group) mobile connections to railway employees. Sources said the contract led to losses of Rs 50 crore to the railways as some officials allegedly connived in fudging the CUG plan for their personal benefits.
The company was reportedly given a contract for providing mobile services under CUG scheme to around one lakh employees of railways all over India.
According to sources, a certain discount for all users on their total bills was provided apart from no monthly rentals. Sources say that under the scheme, employees were provided subscriptions under three different plans – national, zonal (North South, East, West) or circle (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai) CUG schemes. Under the CUG plan, the users can communicate with each other for free in a particular zone but after the limit, they are charged.
A senior CBI officer said, “We have learnt that there were irregularities in the whole plan. We will investigate whether the scheme was fudged or users charged later because there have been losses to railways in this scheme.”
RailTel, a “Mini Ratna (Category-I)” PSU, is considered one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country owning a Pan-India optic fibre network on exclusive Right of Way (ROW) along the railway tracks. It has facilitated mobile CUG connections for 175,000 officers of Indian Railways.
CBI is already conducting two inquiries into alleged corruption in appointment and promotions in the railway board. The agency is also probing alleged irregularities in the emergency quota tickets.
THE Income-Tax Department conducted search operations in two major pharmaceutical companies and a bakery chain. The pharma majors are Cipla Read more
INCOME-TAX authorities today raided the premises of Great Eastern Shipping Company, Ipca Laboratories and RNA Builders. Altogether, 40 premises have Read more
LONDON: A Non-Resident Indian plastic surgeon, who falsely claimed that his sister and uncle were killed in the September 11 Read more
NEW DELHI: San Francisco-based Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. has invested Rs 88 crore for 33.3% stake in Indiabulls Credit Services Read more
