IRPSM - Indian Railway Projects Sanction & Management

IRPSM

Ø Full form is “Indian Railways Projects Sanctions & Management.

Ø That means it has two broad divisions.  1) Sanctioning of new projects i.e., Works Programme and2) Management/Monitoring of such sanctioned Projects.Web based application i.e., usable only with an internet connection and uses HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) as its primary communication protocol.

Ø Developed by CRIS, New Delhi ( All the system administration functions, viz Operating System, Database, Application Server besides day to day operation – responsibility of CRIS)

OBJECTS OF IRPSM

Ø Online creation and forwarding of “NEW WORKS” proposals from the Zonal Railways and Production Units to the Railway Board duly replacing the existing manual system.

Ø Modifications to the “Works in Progress”

Ø Printing of Works programme, Pink Book and other sanction books after sanction by Railway Board.

Ø Monthly updatingof status of various works by Executing agencies like Sr.DEN, Sr.DOM etc.

Ø Monitoring of all Works/Projects.

TYPES OF USERS

LEVEL/USER	PLAN HEAD CO ORDINATOR	WORKS PROGRAMME CO ORDINATOR	SANCTIONING AUTHORITY
DIVISION	Branch officers like Sr.DOM, Sr.DME etc	Sr.DEN/Co	DRM
ZONAL RAILWAY	PHODs	CPDE – Chief Planning & Design Engineer	GM
RAILWAY BOARD	-	EDCE(G) – Executive Director Civil Engineering (General)	Railway Board & Minister for Railways

List of Plan Heads and Plan Head Co-ordinators

PH No	PH Name	Plan Head Coordinator
		Divisional	Zonal Rly/PU
11	New Lines	Sr.DOM	COM
14	Gauge Conversion
15	Doubling
16	Traffic Facilities
35	Electrification Projects
81	Metropolitan transport projects

PH No	PH Name	Plan Head Coordinator
		Divisional	Zonal Rly/PU
29	Level Crossing Gates	Sr.DEN/Co	CTE
30	ROB/RUB		CBE
31	Track Renewals		CTE
32	Bridge Works		CBE
51	Staff Quarters		PCE
52	Staff Amenities		PCE
64	Other Specified works		PCE

PH No	PH Name	Divisional	Zonal Rly/PU
17	Computerisation	Sr.EDP	CCM
33	S & T	Sr.DSTE	CSTE
36	Other Electrical Works	Sr.DEE	CEE
42	Workshops	Sr.DME	CWE
53	Passenger amenities & other rly. User amenities	Sr.DCM	CCM

IRPSM @ DIVISIONAL LEVEL

Ø Creation of “New Works” proposal with justification & Abstract Cost.

Ø Forward to Finance (Sr.DFM) for vetting.

Ø Sanction of Proposal  - by DRM (if within DRM powers)

Ø Forwarding of proposals to Zonal Railway ( If beyond DRM’s powers)

Ø Adding all the Works sanctioned under DRMs powers – to the list of “IN PROGRESS” works in IRPSM.

Ø Assigned unique Project ID as explained below.

Ø Reporting of status every month for each work by respective Exexutive Agency.

Ø Generation & Printing (if desired only) of Works Programme reports.

IRPSM @ ZONAL RAILWAY LEVEL

Ø Examination and processing of “New Works” proposals as received from Divisions will be forwarded by CPDE – Chief Planning & Designs Engineer the respective Zonal Plan Head Co ordinators.

Ø Creation of “New Works” proposals.

Ø Forward to Finance (FA&CAO) for vetting.

Ø The vetted proposals forwarded by Plan Head Co ordinators will be checked and then forwarded to GM through PCE for Sanction.

Ø Sanction of Proposal  - by GM (if within GM powers)

Ø Forwarding of proposals to Railway Board ( If beyond GMpowers)

Ø Adding all the Works sanctioned under GM powers – to the list of “IN PROGRESS” works in IRPSM.

Ø Assigned unique Project ID as explained below.

Ø Defining Funds availability & Sanction limits for Zonal Railway HQ & Divisions.

Ø Reporting of status every month for each work by respective Exexutive Agency.

Ø Generation & Printing (if desired only) of Works Programme reports.

IRPSM @ Railway Board Level

Ø Forwarding of proposals received from Zonal Railways by EDCE(G) to Nodal Directorates for respective Plan Heads.

Ø On line shortlisting, Recommedning& Forwarding to EDCE(G)

Ø Above 5 Crores each -  Proposals forwarded by Nodal Directorates to EDF(X) – I & II for Finance Concurrence.

Ø Below 5 Crores each – Online shortlisting, recommending & forwarding to EDCE(G) by Nodal Directorates through concerned AMs (Additional Members) for Plan Heads.

Ø Compilation of all shortlisted proposals (Below 5 Crores each) by EDCE(G) for meeting of AM’s committee

Ø At any time, ON LINE YELLOW SLIP can be attached on-line and file can be moved out of the normal path for consultation.  All yellow slip communications will be kept off the general record.provision for the off-the-record consultation on Proposals.

Ø Such shortlisted & recommended proposals for each Plan Head with On line consent and remarks of Finance will be processed by Nodal Directorates through EDCE(G) on the file for approval of Board &Honorable Minister for Railways.

Ø Assigned unique Project ID as explained below.

UNIQUE PROJECT ID  - 14 DIGIT

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Zonal Rly		Division		Plan Head		Year of sanction		Authority sanctioned (like GM,DRM etc)	Executing Agency (Like Sr.DEN or Sr.DOM)		Serial Number

UNIQUE PROJECT ID  - 14 DIGIT  -

an example of Passenger Amenities Work (Plan Head 51) Sanctioned by GM in Mumbai Division of Central Railway

0	1	0	2	5	1	1	6	3	0	0	0	0	7
Central Railway		Mumbai Division		Plan Head		2016-17		GM	Not identified		Serial Number

Hence Project ID for the above work is “01025116300007”

ADVANTAGES OF IRPSM

Ø A paperless office .  All files will move online without involvement of physical files.

Ø Completely reduce transit time of file from one office to another.  Proposals reach Boards office within no time.

Ø All requisite justification, plans, drawings, sanctions and permissions will be attached to the proposals.

Ø Online monitoring the work in progress of all the works.

Exchequer control

Exchequer control

Ø   Meaning : A mechanism for concurrent regularisation of cash out go by each disbursing officer against the cash content of the Budget allotment.

Ø  Object: Enables the Government to regulate the flow of Cash in terms of Ways and Means Position

Ø  Railway's expenditure divided into two parts. 

1) Cash - 70 % (approximately)

2) Adjustments -  30 % (approximately)

Ø  The exchequer control mechanism – covers Cash out go only.

Ø  Exchequer control has thus the merit of providing an effective means of monitoring a substantial part of expenditure on a day to day basis.

Ø  All Accounting units will submit their cash requirements for the following month under the following segments by 15^th/18^th of every month to Central Books Section in FA&CAO’s Office.

Ø  The cash requirements are under the following segments.

Segments	Amount in Rs.
I. Revenue Demands
A) Staff Payments
B) Other Payments
II. Works Demands
A) Capital
B) Railway Funds
III. Non – Budget Items

Ø  The requirements of all units are consolidated and total requirement for the whole Railway is forwarded to Railway Board before 20^th of every Month.

Ø  Railway Board would communicate the authorization, by 1^st or 2^nd working day.  The same is distributed and communicated to all Units(Divisions,Wkshops).

Ø  Mid Review:  The current month requirements will be reviewed and if any additional allotment is required, the same will be communicated to the Board by 20^th of current month along with requirements of the Next month.

Ø  Surrender: Cash allotted and likely to remain unspent by the end of the month, may be surrendered to Hqrs (by Units) by 27^th to 29^th which would be consolidated and allotted to any of the needy units.  Else the same will be surrendered to Railway Board by last working day of each month.

Ø  NET WITHDRAWALS:  Under the extant rules, all Cash receipts of Central Govt should be promptly deposited to the credit of Central Govt’s Account in RBI (CAS/Nagpur) and all payments should be made through withdrawals from RBI only.  The difference between the Deposits and Withdrawals during a given period is known as “NET WITHDRAWALS”.

Ø  NEGATIVE  NETWITHDRAWALS: The Negative difference resulting from excess of withdrawals over deposits add to the deficit of the Government.

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Credits - Why they are excluded from the scope of Demands for Grants

CREDITS   -

(1) Why they are excluded from the scope of Demands ?   

(2) Why GROSS expenditure (instead of NET expenditure) under various    Demands for Grants presented to the Parliament for Vote ?

(3) What is the underlying principle justifying the same?

v   Earlier, the NET expenditure (i.e., deducting CREDITS from GROSS expenditure) under various Demands for Grants is presented to Parliament for Vote.

v  Example:  Gross: Rs.100,  Credits: Rs.20, and Net: Rs.80.  So Rs.80 only Voted by Parliament as Grant.

v   Due to above practice,  the following consequences will arise.

v  When full credits did not materialize, the expenditure used to exceed the Budget Grant/limit. Taking the above example, if Credits realized were Rs. 10 only (against budgeted Rs.20 ) resulting the NET expenditure Rs.90 (Rs.100 minus Rs.10) exceeding the Grant by Rs.10.

	Budget Grant	Actual	Variation
Gross	Rs.100	Rs.100	Nil
Credits	Rs.20	Rs.10	Rs.10 (Savings)
Net	Rs.80	Rs.90	Rs.10 (excess)

v  In above example, the Gross expenditure is not exceeded.  Because of less realization of credits, the Grant is exceeded. The Spending authority have to be answerable for excess Net Grant in spite of his adherence to the Gross expenditure.

v  When more Credits realized than budgeted, there is scope/possibility for spending authorities to incur unsanctioned expenditure to the extent of more credits.  Taking the above example, if Credits realized were Rs.30 (against Budgeted Rs.20), the likely unsanctioned expenditure to the extent of Rs.10 (Gross Rs.110, Credits Rs.30 and Net Rs.80). Budget Grant Rs.80 is not exceeded, but spending authorities have undue scope for spending authorities to spend more to the extent of more credits, which is not prudent.  

	Budget Grant	Actual	Variation
Gross	Rs.100	Rs.110	Rs.10 (excess)
Credits	Rs.20	Rs.30	Rs.10 (excess)
Net	Rs.80	Rs.80	Nil

v  To avoid the above eventualities,

1.       Now, the Credits and Recoveries have been excluded from the scope of Demands for Grants.

2.       Such Credits & Recoveries were shown as at footnote in the Demands for Grants.

3.       GROSS Expenditure (instead of NET expenditure) under various Demands is presented to Parliament for Vote.

v   List of Credits and Recoveries

A.      Hire and haulage charges of Rolling stock from the Port trust railways/Non budget lines.

B.      Commission on Audit of Military notes and Credit Notes.

C.      CRRM - Credit for Railway Released Materials.

D.      Service contributions from other Depts on account of Deputation.

E.       sale proceeds in Canteens.

F.       State Govt. grants to Schools and Fees recd. from students.

G.     Credits for freight charges on Railway materials.

H.     Credits on account of Inspection charges for Coal.

I.        Misc. receipts under Works Expenditure (Demand No.16)

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COST PLUS TENDER or COST PLUS CONTRACT

COST PLUS TENDER

or

COST PLUS CONTRACT

5 marks question - 2015 General expenditure (without books)

Ø    Meaning: A contract in which the price payable for work done under the contract is decided on the basis of actual cost of work plus profit.

Ø  In simple, it is Actual cost plus Contractors profit.

Ø  A cost-plus contract, also termed a cost reimbursement contract, is a contract where a contractor is paid for all of its allowed expenses to a set limit plus additional payment to allow for a profit

Ø  As per GFR - General Financial Rules, 2017, Cost plus contracts should ordinarily be avoided. Where such contracts become unavoidable, full justification should be recorded before entering into the contract.

Explanation: A cost plus contract means a contract in which the price payable for supplies or services under the contract is determined on the basis of actual cost of production of the supplies or services concerned plus profit either at a fixed rate per unit or at a fixed percentage on the actual cost of production.

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Closing Entries

Closing Entries

 (Para Nos.230AI to 232AI

At the end of financial year the following transactions in the Indian Railways have been closed to the respective heads.

SN	Transaction	Closed to
1	Revenue transactions (except suspense heads i.e., MAR  & DP)	Net Revenue
2	Capital transactions (except suspense heads i.e., WMS & Stores Suspense)	Capital outlay
3	Debt (Example: Provident Fund)	Balance
4	Remittances (Example: Cheques& Bills)
5	Balance in Transfer Railways (if any) in the Books of Railway Board
6	Revenue suspense head MAR, Capital suspense heads WMS, Stores & MAC and Link Heads a) Demands Payable b) Traffic c) Demands Recoverable d) Labour
7	Balance in Transfer Railways in the books of Zonal Railways	Miscellaneous Government Account
8	All heads (other than Debt & Remittances) Example: Deposit with Reserve Bank of India

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