: The Office of Principal Director of Audit (PDA), which has raised queries on how Rs. 342.75 crore of soiled currency was marked as ‘zero value consignment,’ has also asked the Southern Railway to list out the steps taken for securely loading/unloading the cash at either end and the persons involved in the process.
Parrying questions on the details of the PDA report, an official said information on when the parcel van was made available to the banks for loading the cash, intimation given to railway officials at the destination (Chennai Egmore) and other safety measures en route were sought from railway authorities.
“It is not that the parcel booking officials were not aware that the consignment contained cash. They knew that it was soiled currency. We understand that at least six hours lapsed between the arrival of the train in Chennai and unloading of cash by RBI officials…the banks had engaged the State police for escorting the parcel van,” an official said.
Though the responsibility of the railways was “very limited” in this cash transfer since the value of the consignment was declared as ‘nil’, some arrangements should have been in place for handling the cash-laden van at Salem and Chennai.
