PAC pulls up Railways over gaps in amenities despite promises

Why in the News

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has recorded concern over persistent deficiencies in passenger amenities and sanitation across railway stations, after a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit found that bio toilets were deficient or non functional at 491 of the 512 stations inspected. The Committee was examining the CAG’s Report No. 31 of 2026 on passenger amenities and sanitation at stations. The finding is not new to the Committee. Four PAC reports on the same subject have been presented since 2007, each flagging key deficiencies, and the Ministry of Railways has continued to file action taken reports without producing significant improvement on the ground. The tension is therefore not about what is wrong at stations but about what an accountability mechanism can do when its findings are answered on paper and left unimplemented for close to two decades.

What is the Public Accounts Committee?

1. About: The Public Accounts Committee is a parliamentary financial committee that examines the accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament and the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General laid before the House.
2. Composition and tenure: It has 22 members, 15 elected from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha, elected annually by proportional representation through the single transferable vote.
3. Chairmanship: By convention followed since 1967, the Chairperson is drawn from the Opposition, which is what gives the Committee’s scrutiny of the executive its independent character.
4. Follow up instrument: A ministry responds to the Committee’s recommendations through an action taken report, which is the formal record of what the executive says it has done.

What did the audit find on station amenities?

1. Bio toilets, presented as the fix, failed at scale: A facility the Indian Railways projected as a game changer was found deficient or non functional at the overwhelming majority of stations inspected.
2. Water vending machines: Audit teams found deficiencies at 29 of 77 stations where these machines were checked.
3. Wi-Fi facilities: Deficiencies were recorded at 65 of 380 stations checked.
4. The assurance being tested: The audit measured these findings against what the Ministry had told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways in the 2020 to 2021 year, that bio toilets, water vending machines and Wi-Fi facilities had been introduced.

Why did the Committee call the Railways’ response inadequate?

1. A record of repeated findings: Four Committee reports on passenger amenities and sanitation have been presented since 2007, each identifying key deficiencies.
2. Findings acknowledged and not acted on: The Chairperson noted that the Railways ignored those findings while continuing to submit action taken reports.
3. Scale is not an excuse: The Chairperson accepted the scale and complexity of managing the Indian Railways, and held that this should not hamper basic services for citizens.
4. The deficiencies are elementary: The services named as carrying serious discrepancies are drinking water, seating arrangements, fans and roofing on platforms, none of which is a technically difficult provision.

What has the Committee directed now?

1. A backward looking review: The Ministry has been directed to review the Committee’s observations made since its 2007 report, rather than only the latest audit.
2. A dated response: The Ministry must submit a response within a month, detailing the measures it will take to address the deficiencies.
3. A follow up sitting: The Committee will call another meeting with Railway officials after that month to discuss the response.

Challenges to the Public Accounts Committee

1. Recommendations carry no enforcement: The Committee can record a finding, but no rule compels the executive to implement it, and the House does not vote on its recommendations. Eg. Four reports on the same subject since 2007 have each been answered without a corresponding change at stations.
   The Fix: Require the ministry concerned to lay a compliance statement against every recommendation, naming the responsible department and a date, so non implementation becomes a recorded decision.
2. Scrutiny is entirely after the fact: The Committee examines accounts of money already appropriated and spent, so it cannot stop an outlay that is going wrong while it is going wrong. Eg. An audit report on amenities reaches the Committee years after the facilities it examines were installed.
   The Fix: Pair the post audit examination with a mid year review of the schemes flagged adversely in the previous year’s audit, before the next tranche is released.
3. Policy is outside its remit: The Committee may ask whether money was spent as voted, not whether the policy behind the spending was sound. Eg. A finding that bio toilets are non functional does not allow the Committee to examine whether that technology should have been selected.
   The Fix: Refer the design question to the departmentally related standing committee at the same sitting, so the audit finding and the policy review proceed together.
4. Annual reconstitution breaks continuity: Members are elected for a one year term, so an examination running across sessions is inherited by a differently composed Committee. Eg. An inquiry opened in one Committee’s year is concluded by members who did not hear the original evidence.
   The Fix: Carry an unfinished examination forward to the succeeding Committee with the same member acting as rapporteur on that subject.

Conclusion

The Committee has not discovered a new problem. It has recorded that an accountability loop has been running for close to two decades without closing: the audit finds, the Committee recommends, the Ministry responds, and the station stays as it was. The Chairperson’s direction converts that pattern into a dated test, a written response on measures within a month and a sitting with Railway officials after it. Whether that response names specific works against specific stations, or restates the assurances the audit has already found unfulfilled, is the thing to watch.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2017, GS2, 10] Discuss the role of Public Accounts Committee in establishing accountability of the government to the people.”