An RTI query has made a startling revelation about suspended railway board member (staff) Mahesh Kumar — prime accused in the cash for promotion scam. RTI queries have revealed that Kumar constantly misused his position and spent resources lavishly while working as general manager of Western Railway in Mumbai.
An RTI query has uncovered that Kumar travelled almost 100 km daily in Mumbai, while working as Western Railway GM. The response furnished by deputy general manager Aditya Kumar said that Kumar consumed almost 1,806 litres of petrol in 2012. “Normally, a GM works around 180 days in the headquarters, as they have to travel outside the city; they also avail the different leaves, including two weekly offs in each week,” said a highly-placed source in Western Railway. This implies that Kumar consumed almost 10 litres petrol per day. “If the GM was travelling 100 km each day, when did he get the time to work?” questioned Anees Khan, who filed the RTI, noting that the distance between Kumar’s residence and office is merely six km.
Additional query has revealed that Kumar spent `6,36,661 on air travel within the country in a year. However, the headquarters refused to give information on the money spent on international travel by Kumar. “This is complete misuse of people’s money. It’s ironic that a railway GM prefers to travel by air,” said rail activist Samir Jhaveri.
The information revealed by RTI also shows that Kumar had asked the RPF to deploy six jawans to keep vigil at his plush bungalow, whereas the norm is to provide two jawans, if the said person in not under any threat.
Kumar is currently lodged in Delhi jail and the CBI has charged him as one of the main accused in the chargesheet, filed a few days ago.