Chapter III – Audit of Transactions: Public Sector Undertakings

TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT

Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation

FOLLOW-UP AUDIT
3.2 Follow-up audit of Performance Audit on ‘Computerisation of
e-ticketing system in Maharashtra State Road Transport
Corporation’

Follow-up audit of Performance Audit on ‘Computerisation of

e-ticketing system in Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’
revealed that the recommendations of the Committee on Public
Undertakings (COPU) have not been fully complied within the
prescribed time period of two months. The audit also revealed that
potential revenue loss on sale of tickets due to delay in fixing the
contract for advertisement and issues related to various concession
through Electronic Ticket Issuing Machine13 (ETIM) were not
addressed. Implementing and maintaining ETIM and Online
Reservation System (ORS) did not have sufficient input controls and
validation checks in place to have complete and reliable data.

3.2.1 Introduction
Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (Corporation) was
incorporated in July 1961 under Section 3 of the State Road Transport
Corporations Act, 1950 to provide an economical, efficient, adequate and
properly coordinated road transport system within Maharashtra State.
The Corporation had 30 divisional offices and 251 depots in the State at the
end of March 2021. The Information Technology (IT) needs of the
Corporation were overseen by the Electronic Data Processing (EDP) centre at
Mumbai headed by a Deputy General Manager (DGM/IT), who was assisted
by a Senior Manager (IT) and a Manager (IT).
A Performance Audit Report (PA) on ‘Computerisation of e-ticketing system
in the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’ for the period May
2009 to October 2014 was included in the Audit Report (AR) of the
Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended 31 March 2014.
The PA highlighted the deficiencies in the e-ticketing system and functioning
of various authorities under the control of the Corporation. The AR was
discussed by the Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) during the year
2017-18. The COPU, in its fifteenth report of 2017-18 laid in the State
legislature in December, 2017 and made recommendations on six points.
We conducted a follow-up audit between September 2021 and October 2021
to assess the extent of implementation of the recommendations of the COPU
with respect to e-ticketing only. The follow-up audit covered the office of the

13
Application developed to capture the details of all tickets issued to the passengers
boarding the bus by the conductor through the machine called Electronic Ticket Issuing
Machine (ETIM).

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Dy. General Manager (EDP), 106 depots and Divisional Managers of Nagpur
and Nagpur Rural-2 depot. Records and databases for the period from January
2016 to March 2021 were test checked in these offices to the extent of
observations, which appeared in the earlier AR and the recommendations
thereon by the COPU.
An exit meeting was held on 18 January 2022 with the Additional Chief
Secretary (Transport & Ports), Government of Maharashtra (GoM) wherein
the audit findings were discussed. The reply furnished (February 2022) by the
GoM has been suitably incorporated in the report.
3.2.2 E-ticketing system
In order to facilitate online/web-based reservation system and to adopt
software technology in its day to day operations, the Corporation invited
(June 2008 and September 2014) Request for Proposal (RFP) from interested
parties for the project of providing, computerising, implementing and
maintaining ETIM and Online Reservation System14 (ORS) with web facility
on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.

Audit Findings

3.2.3 Failure to generate revenue by selling advertising rights

In the PA report (2014) it was pointed out that as per terms of Master Service
Agreement (MSA), Trimax15 was required to supply the ticket rolls free of
cost and the Corporation reserved its right of advertisements on the backside
of the ticket rolls to supplement its revenue. Trimax had offered
(August 2011) one paisa per ticket for the advertisement rights, but the offer
was not considered (November 2011) on the ground that it would be dealt
separately. However, no such efforts were made till December 2014 and the
potential revenue thus forgone by the corporation worked out to ` 4.17 crore,
considering 417.15 crore tickets actually issued between September 2011 and
October 2014.
Recommendation of COPU (1.5 on para 3.7.1 of the PA)
The Corporation was in loss and had the opportunity to generate revenue
but it did not take action for three years. If the Corporation had taken
prompt action it would have benefitted from the revenue so generated and it
was recommended that enquiry should be conducted and action should be
taken against the officers responsible. The action taken report to be
submitted within two months i.e. by February 2018.

Action Taken by Corporation

Despite the recommendation by the COPU, no enquiry was conducted against
the officials, on the ground that no official was responsible for delay in taking
14
Application developed to capture the details of passengers reserve the tickets online, like
name, age, gender, address, concession, mobile/phone number etc.
15
Agency appointed by MSRTC for Providing, Computerizing, Implementing and
Maintenance of ETIM & ORS system.

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action for loss of revenue on account of printing of advertisement on backside

of tickets.
It was observed during the follow-up audit that the action taken report which
was to be submitted to the COPU within two months i.e. by February 2018
was submitted to COPU only in December 2020. Considering the sale of
395.48 crore tickets between November 2014 and June 2018, the potential
revenue loss to the Corporation worked out to ` 3.95 crore. Further, the
Corporation failed to include an appropriate clause in the subsequent contract
made (2015) with Trimax for paper roll supply and advertisement rights.
The Corporation stated (January 2022) that no response was received till
August 2018 for advertisement to be printed on backside of the tickets and
thereafter offer of one rupee per roll was accepted.
Government stated (February 2022) that Corporation has been instructed to
collect the advertisement revenue on time.
3.2.4 System Design
The Application controls are the checks and balances that are incorporated in
the ETIM and ORS applications developed for maintaining data integrity. The
application controls consist of input controls, processing controls and output
controls and the absence of or inadequacies in any of these controls would
have an adverse impact on the integrity and reliability of the database.
Recommendation of COPU (2.5 on para 3.8.5 of the PA)
The ETIM needed upgradation but the Corporation continued with the old
system as pointed out by the audit and incurred loss. This matter needs to be
investigated and responsibility fixed on the officers responsible for this and
action taken details be submitted to the committee within two months i.e. by
February 2018.

Action taken by Corporation

It was observed during the follow-up audit that the action taken report which
was to be submitted to the COPU within two months i.e. by February 2018
was submitted to COPU only in December 2020. According to this report, as
per the provisions of the ETIM system, the changes were incorporated as per
requirements from time to time. However, it was observed during January
2016 to March 2021, 9,761 ETIM out of 12,272 were working in the rural area
in the old version.
To give effect to the recommendation of the COPU, the ETIM was upgraded
in phased manner, but partly. The issues related to various concessions were
not addressed. Departmental enquiries were initiated against the seven
officials.

3.2.4.1 In the Online Reservation System (ORS) database, the Corporation

was allowing concession in fares, with or without limiting factor16 to different

16
Limiting factors are put on the number of times a concession holder can travel and/or the
total kilometers of travel permitted and/or on the total amount of concession allowed.

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category of passengers like Arjuna awardees, vision impaired persons,

Dronacharya Awardees and other awardees, freedom fighters, physically
handicapped, patients suffering from diseases like tuberculosis/cancer/leprosy,
senior citizens etc. The amount of concessions so allowed was periodically
claimed by the Corporation from the State Government.
Recommendation of COPU (3.5 on para 3.10.5 of the PA)
The Corporation at the time of reservation, should make the passengers fill
all the relevant information and the passengers availing concessions in
incorrect way should be charged double the actual ticket rates and action
taken report be submitted within two months i.e. by February 2018.
Action taken by the Corporation
According to the Corporation’s Action Taken Report, the passengers who
book tickets by giving wrong credentials/details would be penalized as per
rules and regulations of MSRTC and not by double the rates as recommended
(December 2017) by the COPU. However, changes in the system were
proposed so that the vacant reserved quota tickets would be available for
passengers availing concessional fares.
It was observed during the follow-up audit that the action taken report which
was to be submitted to the COPU within two months i.e. by February 2018
was submitted to COPU only in December 2020.
Audit also observed (September-October 2021) that the Authorised Booking
Agents (ABAs) did not enter the identity (ID) proof details of passengers
eligible for concessional fare in the columns meant to capture the same in
ORS database in 9,199 cases out of 1,91,16,593 cases. Further, one more
column ‘Concession Proof’ had been created; but in 339 cases the field was
‘blank’ and in 95 cases ‘none’ was shown in the field during the period
covered in audit.
Follow-up audit revealed that data relating to concession proof, name of the
passenger and ID proof were not fully captured and therefore its correctness
could not be ascertained in audit.
The Corporation stated (January 2022) that the ABAs did not enter the ID
proof details in the initial stage of launching the project. In the case of group
booking under ORS, minimum one passenger name was compulsory and the
discrepancy pointed out by audit was rectified in October 2016.
Our data analysis revealed that in 9,473 out of 14,513 cases, although the
tickets were issued for a single passenger, the passenger name field was blank
and these cases pertained to the period after October 2016.
The Government did not furnish any reply.
3.2.5 Management Information System
In the PA report (2014), it was pointed out that the Master Service Agreement
(MSA) provided for setting up of a comprehensive Management Information
System (MIS) providing reports, dashboards etc. The MIS was to provide
user-friendly reporting functionalities such as graphical display for the staff,
officials of Corporation and any entity authorized by Corporation, the end day

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procedure for processing information and generating MIS in report formats

and all operational MIS and Revenue Reports for a specified period, booking
centre- wise, service wise, operator wise, depot wise, agent wise etc.
Recommendation of COPU (4.5 on para 3.11 of the PA)
The Corporation must have good quality MIS and for this purpose guidance
from IT and statistical experts may be sought and the report of action taken
may be submitted within two months i.e. by February 2018.

Action taken by the Corporation

According to the Corporation’s Action Taken Report, all the information
related to income received by the buses running on various passenger routes,
passenger number etc. are received by the corporation through ETIM and ORS
which is used for analysis of profit/loss and decision making. Further, a
dashboard under MIS is created for the Management. However due to
incomplete capturing of data and incomplete tables MIS reports generated are
not reliable.
No specific comment on guidance from IT and statistical experts was made by
the Corporation (December 2020).
It was observed during the follow-up audit that the action taken report which
was to be submitted to the COPU within two months i.e. by February 2018
was submitted to COPU only in December 2020.
3.2.6 System audit
The Master Service Agreement (MSA) provided that as soon as reasonably
practicable after the effective date, the parties shall use their best endeavor to
agree to a time table for routine audit during the project implementation phase
and the operation and management phase. Further, the Project processes
specified in Request For Proposal (RFP), required the Corporation to review
the test plan subject to the condition that the System Integrator (SI) ensured
that the end product delivered by it met all the requirements including
functional and technical requirements.
Recommendation of COPU (5.5 on para 3.13 of the PA)
The Corporation must conduct audit of payment of ` 125 crore to
M/s Trimax within prescribed time limit so as to avoid unwarranted
expenditure and responsibility be fixed on the officers responsible for this
and action taken be submitted to the committee within two months i.e. by
February 2018.
Action taken by the Corporation
The Corporation had appointed Standardization Testing and Quality
Certification (STQC) Directorate of Government of India for carrying out
system audit and testing. After this, M/s Ernst and Young LLP was appointed
as system performance auditor and the report was submitted by them on
monthly basis. The role of E&Y is focused on checking of payments to
Trimax (SI).

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To give effect to the recommendation of the COPU, the Corporation had fixed
responsibility and one official had been dismissed (December 2012) by the
Vice Chairman and Managing Director.
Government stated (February 2022) that the system performance tests as per
MSA and RFP had been conducted. In the initial stage, the User Acceptance
Test (UAT) was also conducted.
3.2.7 Business Continuity Plan
As per the current contract with the Trimax, it was required to implement and
maintain the ETIM and ORS with web facility till 14 June 2022. It also
included providing necessary training, material and training faculty related to
the new system to various staff members of the Corporation like Conductors,
Account Officers and others across bus depots/stations/divisional/regional/
central office etc., as and when specified by the Corporation. The SI shall
manage the entire project from conceptualisation to operationalisation and
maintenance as well as subsequent transfer of infrastructure/applications and
handholding and all assets including Hardware and System Software procured
by the SI to the Corporation. The SI was responsible to ensure continuity of
service at all times during the currency of the agreement including exit
management period.
Recommendation of the COPU (6.5 on para 3.15 of the PA)
The Corporation was entirely dependent on M/s Trimax for business
continuity and in case of problem arising in future it should have thought of
the crisis management issue also. It was also recommended to appoint a
committee consisting of IT experts to address this issue and submit the
report within two months i.e. by February 2018.

Action taken by the Corporation

According to its Action Taken Report, the Corporation had appointed M/s
Ernst and Young as a Project Management consultant which looks after the
project monitoring work. For avoiding hurdles in project operations in future
and to reduce project dependency on M/s. Trimax including disaster
management, a proposal would be sought from M/s Ernst and Young for
immediate resolution as per recommendations of COPU.
The Corporation had also appointed a committee in which representatives
from IT and Transport Departments are members. The committee had
appointed M/s. KPMG as a Project Management Consultant which will also
advise for smooth project operations, reducing project dependence including
Disaster Management.
It was observed during the follow-up audit that the action taken report which
was to be submitted to the COPU within two months i.e. by February 2018
was submitted to COPU only in December 2020.
Government stated (February 2022) that the mock drills had been conducted
on two occasions and the SI was responsible for sound health of equipments
and cables deployed for the purpose as a preventive measure and restoring the
system in case of any disaster.

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It was observed (November 2021) that the SI had carried out only one mock
drill (January 2019) instead of conducting drills periodically so as to ensure
sound health of systems/equipments/cables and peripherals deployed for the
purpose as a preventive measure and to restore the system in case of any
disaster. As such, the Corporation has not established a system for business
continuity/crisis management. Despite recommendations by the COPU, it
continued to depend on M/s Trimax for business continuity/crisis
management. Further even though the SI is responsible for smooth running,
the system needs to be tested periodically for sound health of backup plan in
case of contingency or failure of the online system. It is the primary
responsibility of the Corporation to ensure the smooth working and testing of
the backup plan.
3.2.8 Data Analysis of implementing and maintaining ETIM and
online Reservation System17 (ORS)

3.2.8.1 In consonance with the recommendations of COPU and subsequent

follow-up action taken by the Corporation, Audit did the data analysis of
implementing and maintaining ETIM and Online Reservation System (ORS)
in respect of 106 depots out of 250 depots which revealed (September-
October 2021) that;
In the transaction table under ORS, the passenger name field designed
to capture the names of passengers booking in advance was blank in 14,477
cases out of 1,91,16,593 cases and in 36 cases field contained symbols like ‘,’
or ‘+’.
In the ETIM data base, in 1218 depots the identity proof in respect of
7.82 crore passengers, stated to be eligible for concession, out of 8.05 crore
passengers eligible for concessions (97 per cent cases) were blank.
In the absence of audit trail, changes made in the transaction tables
could not be monitored. However, audit trail was available only for 1519 tables
as against 449 tables in the ORS data base.
In 12 depots that 8.06 crore ETIM tickets for passengers eligible for
concession were generated from January 2016 to 31 March 2021 on the basis
of these tickets, reimbursement was claimed by the Corporation from GoM. In
the absence of reliable and correct data, the claims raised for reimbursement
by the Corporation with the GoM could not be verified in audit. The
Government stated (February 2022) that the Corporation had been instructed
to take corrective action.
3.2.8.2 The Home Department instructions (November 2008 and
October 2018) required grant of 75 per cent and 70 per cent concession in

17
Application developed to capture the details of passengers reserve the tickets online, like
name, age, gender, address, concession, mobile/phone number etc.
18
Aurangabad-1, Beed, Bhandara, Buldana, Dhule, Kolhapur, Kurla Nehru Nagar, Nagpur
Rural-1, Nagpur Rural-2, Nashik CBS, Ratnagiri and Yavatmal.
19
api_log, bus_services_insert_update_log, bus_stops_insert_update_log, flat_fare_log,
payment Gateway Cron_log, Procedure Book Ticket_log, Procedure release Quota
Seats_log, Procedure Cancel Rebook Ticket_log, Procedure Temporary Lock Unlock
Seats_log, Procedure release Seats_log, route_master_ copy_log, session_log, SLA_etim
Breakdown_logs, Third party_alert_logs, WS_logs.

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fares for each journey performed in ordinary/semi luxury buses and Shivshahi
buses respectively to handicapped/vision impaired passengers. Similarly,
50 per cent and 45 per cent concession in fares in ordinary/semi luxury bus
and Shivshahi bus respectively was available to an escort travelling with the
handicapped/ vision impaired passengers.
‘concession code – 20’ was designed to capture the details of escorts
travelling with the handicapped passengers (code-19). As different codes were
created for handicapped passengers and their escorts, only one concession
ticket should be generated for each code and the ticket of the escort must
contain cross reference with that of the handicapped with whom he/she had
travelled.
ETIM generated 9,77,578 tickets of handicapped passengers against
which 20,36,122 passengers actually travelled. This resulted in loss of
` 5.54 crore to the Corporation owing to allowance of concession to 10,58,544
ineligible passengers. Similarly, under the escort category, 30,184 passengers
travelled as against 12,871 tickets for escorts generated, resulting in loss of
` 0.08 crore to the Corporation. Thus, there was a total loss of ` 5.62 crore to
the Corporation due to allowance of concession to excess number of
handicapped passengers and excess number of their escorts.
Against the ETIM generated 92,731 tickets of vision impaired,
1,94,137 passengers actually travelled. This resulted in loss of ` 0.49 crore to
the Corporation owing to allowance of concession to 1,01,406 ineligible
passengers. Similarly, under the escort category 6,994 passengers travelled as
against 2,661 tickets resulting in loss of ` 0.02 crore to the Corporation. Thus,
there was total loss of ` 0.51 crore to the Corporation due to allowance of
concession to excess number of vision impaired passengers and excess number
of their escorts.
Although ORS database had the provision for original ticket and
reference ticket, the same was missing in ETIM database. In the absence of
cross referencing of ticket numbers, authenticity of concessional fares to the
eligible passengers could not be verified.
In 5.35 crore cases of physically handicapped passengers and
0.15 crore cases of their escorts, the concession in fare was allowed in excess
of the prescribed20 per cent. This resulted in short realization of revenue of
` 17.89 crore. Similarly, in 0.47 crore cases of vision impaired passengers and
2.51 lakh cases of their escorts, there was short realization of revenue of
` 1.28 crore owing to allowance of concessional fare in excess of the
prescribed per cent.
Government stated (February 2022) that nine passengers could travel on a
single ticket only; hence, cross referencing of escort in case of handicapped
passengers was not feasible. Further, a handicapped person booking online
ticket may actually travel with escort; hence, cross reference in such case was

20
For PH passengers, 75 per cent concession in fare of Ordinary/Semi Luxury buses and
70 per cent concession in fare of Shivshahi buses whereas for their escorts 50 per cent
concession in fare of Ordinary/Semi Luxury buses and 45 per cent concession in fare of
Shivshahi buses.

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also not feasible in ETIM system. Government further instructed to the

Corporation to implement the smart card system on priority.
3.2.8.3 The Government had instructions (May 1989 and October 2018) to
grant 100 per cent concession in ticket fare to Freedom Fighter21 (FF) along
with one escort only. Our data analysis revealed that;
In ORS database, 17,091 tickets out of 19,902 tickets, booked online
under the category of FF were of those passengers, whose age was shown
below 70 years at the time of booking of online tickets. Since more than
74 years have elapsed after Indian independence, adequate input age control
should have been provided while designing the application for ORS. The age
wise analysis of tickets booked under FF category is shown in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1: Concession given to ineligible passenger (ORS database)

Tickets booked for passenger having age between

12 – 20 years 21 – 30 years 31 – 40 41 – 50 Above 50 years but below 70

years years years
274 2,398 3,089 4,533 6,797
Source: Information obtained from Corporation

The Corporation stated (January 2022) that necessary changes in the system
would be incorporated after getting clarification/guidance from the
Government. Government instructed (February 2022) the Corporation to take
necessary action.
3.2.8.4 ETIM generated 24,468 tickets under FF category against which
70,242 passengers actually travelled. This has resulted in loss of ` 0.21 crore
to the Corporation owing to allowance of concession to 45,774 ineligible
passengers. Similarly, under escort category 72,084 passengers travelled
against 28,470 tickets issued resulting in loss of ` 0.27 crore to the
Corporation. Thus, there was total loss of ` 0.48 crore to the Corporation due
to inadmissible allowance of concession to excess number of FF passengers
and excess number of their escorts.
73,097 escorts had availed the concessional fare against 65,443 FF
passengers actually travelled during the period covered by audit. In the ORS
database, provision for original ticket and reference ticket was made available;
however in ETIM database, cross reference of original tickets of FF with the
tickets of escorts was not done. 43,145 tickets issued to the escorts were such
that they had not travelled with the FF; still concession was granted to them.
Government instructed (February 2022) the Corporation to implement the
smart card system on priority.
3.2.8.5 The Corporation circular (August 2000), read with Government
Resolution (GR) (February 2000) which granted 100 per cent concession in
fares to Adivasi Sevak Awardees (ASA) including one escort for each journey
performed in Ordinary, Semi Luxury and Luxury bus services. Scrutiny of the
ETIM database of 106 depots revealed that (November 2021);

21
persons who belong to a group that takes part in a movement to liberate a country from an
un-popular government.

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ETIM data base of 106 depot revealed that against 19,671 tickets
issued to ASA passengers and their escorts, concession to 81,843 passengers
was allowed. This resulted in irregular allowance of concession to 62,172
passengers amounting to ` 0.19 crore.
Government stated (February 2022) that the number of ASA and escort travel
would not match the number of tickets sold because nine passengers could
travel on a single ticket. Again, an ASA person booking online ticket may
actually travel with escort; hence cross reference in such case was also not
feasible in ETIM system.
3.2.8.6 The GoM (February 1998) allowed free travel to Arjuna, Dronacharya
and Chhatrapati awardees of the State in the public road transport and fare so
foregone is reimbursed by the GoM. Scrutiny of the table capturing data of
ticket details under ORS revealed that;
215 and 26 tickets were issued to Arjuna and Dronacharya Awardees,
but 258 and 28 passengers respectively actually travelled thereon. Similarly,
table capturing ticket details under ETIM database revealed that 8,399 and
6,778 tickets were issued to Arjuna and Dronacharya Awardees respectively
but 27,894 and 42,356 passengers actually travelled thereon. Thus, 55,073
(19,495+35,578) passengers were allowed the concession irregularly resulting
in loss of revenue of ` 10.23 lakh. In respect of Chhatrapati awardees, as
against 7,129 tickets, 8,644 passengers actually availed the concession
resulting in loss of revenue of ` 1.19 lakh.
Government instructed (February 2022) the Corporation to implement the
smart card system on priority.
3.2.8.7 The Corporation had granted (circulars issued in December 1976 and
March 1978), 50 per cent concession in fares to Cancer patients for each
journey performed up to 1,500 Km distance for each travel. This was revised
(October 2018) to 75 per cent. TB and Leprosy patients are allowed
75 per cent concession up to 50 km distance for each travel.
During data analysis it was revealed that;
11,990 passengers under Cancer, TB and Leprosy categories travelled
as against 5,309 tickets issued by ETIM. This resulted in loss of ` 3.60 lakh22
to the Corporation owing to allowance of concession to 6,68123 ineligible
passengers. It was also observed that in case of 1,34,559 cancer patient
passengers, concession of more than 75 per cent was allowed resulting in
revenue loss of ` 5.93 lakh. Similarly in case of 8,431 TB and 3,706 Leprosy
patients, concession was allowed beyond the prescribed limit of 50 Km
resulting in revenue loss of ` 1.62 lakh and ` 1.05 lakh respectively.
Government instructed (February 2022) the Corporation to implement the
smart card system on priority.
3.2.8.8 Data analysis of ETIM database of 12 depots in respect of
‘Ticket_IDs’ columns containing ticket identification of the ‘ticket’ table
revealed (October 2021) that;

22
Cancer-` 2.91 lakh, Leprosy- ` 0.30 lakh and TB-` 0.39 lakh.
23
Cancer-4768 cases, Leprosy- 889 cases and TB-1024 cases.

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In respect of 0.64 crore tickets, out of 34.37 crore tickets issued during
the period from 01 October 2016 to 31 March 2021, ‘Ticket_IDs’ were
missing. Thus the integrity of data could not be ascertained.
Sale of 417.15 crore tickets was shown in the ‘Ticket table’ for the
period from September 2011 to October 2014 as pointed out in the earlier
audit. However, during the current analysis, the number of tickets for the same
period was shown as 417.20 crore, indicating difference of 5 lakh such tickets
between earlier and current scrutiny. Thus, the data had changed with the
passage of time thereby misgivings on data reliability and its use for MIS
purposes.
Government stated (February 2022) that to maintain the accuracy and integrity
of data, rolled back feature of RDBMS was used.
3.2.8.9 The ETIMs were programmed to handle all types of tickets,
including concessions. However, these were not amended as needed, and as
per GRs issued from time to time. To overcome the difficulties in respect of
various concessions, a smart card project was separately initiated by the
corporation. The Corporation started issuing smart cards in lieu of passes to
the passengers eligible for concessional fare under various categories like
students, senior citizens, patients etc. from the depots. These cards are only
read and captured by the ETIMs, for which details of the smart card user need
to be entered into the system before issuing it to the user. The smart card
reader/writer applicable to desktops was also provided to the bus depots and
stations. Our data analysis revealed that;
32,55,714 smart cards were issued during the period 2019-2021 to the
passengers eligible for concession. However, the ETIMs were unable to read
these smart cards as these machines started hanging after the card was placed
on them. Thus, the conductors were required to enter the data of such
passengers manually into ETIMs.
The old practice of sale of pre-printed passes still continued as the
System Integrator (SI) did not provide adequate smart cards and the revenue
earned from these passes were not captured in the database. In absence of this,
the Corporation was unable to ensure the validity of passes at the time of
travel through the system without human intervention.
Position of data verified related to the concessions claimed in March
2019, March 2020 and March 2021 by all the passenger categories of Nagpur
depot (Rural-2) is shown in the following Table 3.2:
Table 3.2: Difference in figures of ETIM and Manual computation
Months March 2019 March 2020 March 2021
Items ETIM Manual ETIM Manual ETIM Manual
Number of 47,158 50,010 30,859 33,353 14,927 14,937
passengers
Actual fare 46,26,370 57,67,513 28,69,066 35,44,228 14,43,705 14,75,304
Fare recovered (A) 22,32,185 26,94,884 13,29,690 15,79,646 6,44,785 6,56,839
Reimbursement 23,85,411 30,72,629 15,38,124 19,64,582 7,95,758 8,18,465
amount (B)
Total amount 46,17,596 57,67,513 28,67,814 35,44,228 14,40,543 14,75,304
(A+ B)
Source: Information obtained from Corporation

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The table above indicates that the reports generated through ETIM system and
those prepared manually were not matching as there were significant
difference in figures of number of passengers availing concessional fare,
actual fare, reimbursed amount and total amount. Thus, these figures need to
be reconciled. This indicated that purpose of computerization of e-ticketing
system was lacking.
Government instructed (February 2022) the Corporation to implement the
smart card system on priority.
3.2.8.10 The table for capturing waybill trip details was designed to generate
analytical report on trip-wise revenue earned for decision making process.
Data scrutiny of ETIMs database in respect of 12 depots revealed
(October 2021) that;
In 2,909, out of 1.23 crore records, income of ` 82.25 lakh was
reported to have been generated against route number “0”, which was not
available in the Master table of routes.
In 4.56 lakh out of 1.23 crore records, cumulative revenue income of
` 96.95 crore was reported against analogous Trip number “00000000” which
was also not available in the Master table containing trips.
In 9 depots, 227 blank trip numbers were generated, which indicated
manual intervention and compromise of data integrity.
Government stated (February 2022) that to overcome this, the Corporation has
been instructed to incorporate the suggested changes in proposed ticket
system.
3.2.8.11 The Authorised Booking Agents (ABAs) are allowed to book
advance tickets for the prospective passengers by collecting fares from them
besides those booked at the ticket booking window. The contractual terms
allowed credit limits to ABAs, which provided for retention of the money
aggregating to value of tickets sold and the money so collected was to be
deposited in the designated bank account by next day.
Scrutiny of the ORS database revealed (October 2021) that;
In 237 out of 973 cases of ABAs pertaining to the audit period, the
data on money value limit specified in the contractual terms was shown as
‘Zero’ in the limit column contained in the Master table and hence monetary
value limit could not be monitored.
In 58 cases where Corporation employees were authorized as the
Booking Agents, the same Agent code with access to more than one Booking
Centre (BC) in many different locations were detected and
In 83 other cases, different BC codes were created for the same Agent
at the same location which facilitated the ABAs in availing credit limits
beyond the prescribed amount. This indicated inadequacy of input control in
the system.

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Government stated (February 2022) that prior to introducing the top-up,

private agents were allowed to operate even with ‘zero’ balance. Despite this,
there were 205 active ABAs, whose credit limit was shown as ‘Zero’.
3.2.8.12 ETIM and ORS database did not contain tables depicting the details
of buses available with depots, manual pass collection of data, digitised routes
and bus stops, digitisation of data of pass holders, ABA cash collection and
remittance data, data pertaining to all passengers eligible to different types of
concessions etc.
Government stated (February 2022) that audit suggestions would be
incorporated in the proposed system.
3.2.8.13 The Corporation is operating its buses outside the state (Andhra
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and
Rajasthan) under Reciprocal Transport Agreements24 executed with the
respective state Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) to cater to the needs of
passengers.
Data analysis revealed (October 2021) that data fields for only five states
were created in the table containing ticket details in ETIM and ORS data base
though the Corporation had executed inter-state agreements with the above
mentioned seven neighbouring State Road Transport Corporations (RTCs).
Government stated (February 2022) that audit suggestions would be
incorporated in the proposed system.
3.2.8.14 In the Master table “Depot”, details of 297 depots in ORS database
and 294 depots in ETIM database were captured as against 25125 existing
depots. So long as the correct data was not captured in the corresponding
tables and correct fields, besides error generation, the prospect of difficulties
in migration to new system in future, was inherent. Despite this pointed out in
the earlier Report (December 2014) this deficiency was noticed.
Data scrutiny (October 2021) revealed that 135 tables out of 411 tables
under the ETIM database and 58 tables, out of 449 tables under ORS database
were blank and devoid of any data. Further, 65 Master tables created in ETIM
were blank and devoid of any data from Master tables.
Government stated (February 2022) that the database tables were purposely
created for working depots. In some of the tables, window booking operation
was not operated by SI because of lack of demand from passenger and some
tables were created for testing purpose only.
3.2.8.15 In ETIM database, the fields created to capture division name,
division code, depot name and depot code were blank in 3,46,176, out of
total 34,37,29,142 tickets during the period from 16 January 2016 to
25 February 2018. The Corporation had rectified the error for the current
period only and the data for the period from 16 January 2016 to
25 February 2018 was still not rectified.

24
In the absence of any agreement between RTCs of two States for interstate operations, the
respective State Governments execute such agreements and impose the terms and
conditions on such RTCs. Revenue sharing is the major element addressed in such
agreements.
25
250 depots and one Payment Gateway.

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Report No. 3 (Compliance Audit Report for the year ended 31 March 2021)

Government stated (February 2022) that during the initial stage of integration
of the system, fields pointed out by the audit were blank.
Thus, implementing and maintaining ETIM and Online Reservation
System (ORS) did not have sufficient input controls and validation checks
in place to have complete and reliable data.

TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT
Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation

3.3 Unfruitful expenditure of ` 4.05 crore

Construction of depot at Manchar by the MSRTC within 30 km of

two existing depots against its own policy resulted in unfruitful
expenditure of ` 4.05 crore
The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (Corporation) through
resolutions (passed between February 1981 and March 1999) framed a policy
for constructing a bus depot. According to the policy, a depot should not be set
up within a distance of 30 km of another depot in a place selected for this
purpose simply because it is a Taluka place. However, a depot could be set up
if it has the justified traffic density and is economically viable or duly
supported by the operational needs and operates more than 100 bus-schedules.
The Corporation decided (June 2012) to construct a depot at Manchar in
Ambegaon Tahsil of Pune District. This decision was based on the necessity
and importance26 of the depot at Manchar even though two depots were
already existing within 30 km of Manchar viz. Narayangaon at 14 km (with 93
bus-schedules) and Rajgurunagar at 20 km (with 90 bus-schedules). The
feasibility of this depot was based on the projected generation of an annual
profit of ` 0.44 crore by it. The work was completed (June 2017) after
incurring an expenditure of ` 4.05 crore27.
Audit observed (December 2020) that although the depot was completed in
June 2017 it has not been put to any use till date (November 2021). Thus,
non-operationalisation of the depot resulted in unfruitful expenditure of
` 4.05 crore.
In reply, the Divisional Controller, Pune stated (December 2020) that the
permission for the use of depot and appointment of additional staff for its
operation was sought (May 2018) from General Manager (Personnel), but the
same was denied (July 2018) in order to reduce the administrative expenditure
and to bring coordination/uniformity in the functioning of the depots within
30 km area. Hence, the competent authority decided not to operate Manchar
depot.

26
Centre of economic activity, located on national highway, proximity to Bhimashankar
Jyotrilinga and a Sanctuary attracting heavy passenger traffic, Sugar Mill and Engineering
College, transportation of Agriculture produce to the Navi Mumbai market and
Ambegaon taluka being hilly area with tribal population.
27
(` 4.05 crore = ` 3.60 crore for civil works + ` 27.80 lakh for electrical works +
` 17.50 lakh for cost of land).

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