NEW DELHI, May 14: Does the Gujral Doctrine of being nice to one's neighbours include passing on concessions meant for Indian farmers to those in Bangladesh ?

Probably not. But the Railways seem to be charging a concessional rate for hauling Bangladesh-bound consignments of Single Super Phosphate (SSP) fertiliser. SSP was placed in a low freight category on the recommendation of a parliamentary committee which wanted to make it cheaper for the Indian farmer.

To be fair to the author of the Doctrine, the Railway's magnanimity is unintended and not part of a grand plan to improve Indo-Bangladesh relations. Besides, the Doctrine was not officially born when the Railways began `undercharging' for fertiliser being exported to Bangladesh.

The concessional freight rate came into effect in September 1992. Test audits conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reveal the Railways incurred losses amounting to nearly Rs four crores between January 1994 and August 1996.

At the time of drafting its latest report, the CAG had not been told if the concession to Bangladesh consignments had been withdrawn. The Railway Ministry had placed SSP into a new group, ``Chemical Manures-Division C'' on the recommendation of a joint parliamentary committee on Fertilisers, which identified 17 items for freight concessions.

The committee apparently meant Indian farmers, but the Railway Ministry did not spell this out while extending the concession. The CAG asked for the relevant file from the Ministry on September 16 and October 24 last year. But till February the Ministry had not made it available, claiming it was untraceable.

The CAG audit covered 12 stations on the Northern Railway ( accounting for a revenue loss of Rs 3.15 crore), three stations on the North Eastern Railway (Rs 37.86 lakhs), and one station each on the Northeast Frontier Railway (Rs 11.24 lakhs) and Western Railway (Rs 32.96 lakhs).

The Northern Railway argued that separate classifications were not prescribed for commodities meant for domestic use and export. And in the absence of any specific conditions attached with the new classification, concessional freight charges were levied on export consignments as well.But the CAG disapproved: ``This is not tenable since Division C was created specifically to provide the benefit of concessional freight charges to the Indian farmers.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.