RailEnquiry

In a bid to ensure transparency, the Stores Department of the Golden Rock Railway Workshop here has introduced an e-auction system for selling railway scrap materials.The new system provides a common platform for scrap purchasers all over the country to offer their bids online in a fair and transparent manner.A valid class III digital signature certificate; payment of online registration fee of Rs.10,000 and payment of 10 per cent of the bid lot; possession of SBI account with online banking facility are among the prerequisites laid down for the buyers for taking part in the bidding process under the e-auction system.E- auction has been hosted in the e-procurement site www.ireps.gov.in and is maintained by the Centre for Railway Information Systems. The new system provides user name and password for the registered purchasers who can log on to the site and make their bidding. It also provides for e-payment gateway for online payment of Earnest Money Deposit.The new system will ensure better competition and reduce scope for cartelisation, say workshop authorities. It would fetch more revenue for the railways as the competition would be wide open and simplify work for the officials. For the purchasers, the system would ensure transparency as the bidder can view the amount quoted by his competitor. The traditional system of auctioning would continue till such period the new system is well established, authorities said. Auction of scrap materials takes place once or twice every month in the workshop, a senior official said adding that the workshop had been selling scrap materials to the tune of Rs.120.50 crore per annum.Engine blocks, plate off-cuts, used brake blocks, released cylinder liners, bazaar scrap and over-aged rails and sleepers are the scrap materials sold time to time by the workshop.The first e-auction conducted on Friday fetched Rs.27.54 lakh for the workshop which is engaged in myriad activities including periodic overhaul of diesel locomotives and manufacture of container wagons and steam engines.The new system was inaugurated by the Controller of Stores, Southern Railway, B.K.Sinha in the presence of Chief Workshop Manager P.Mahesh and senior officials.