This is being done to intensify a crackdown on ‘indent mafia’ that corners availability of wagons in advance and profiteers from the scarcity, government said.
The Indian Railways has tightened control over Bangladesh-bound rail freight by mandating that any entity that books a wagon headed for the neighbouring country specify the commodity being transported, said officials.
This is being done to intensify a crackdown on ‘indent mafia’ that corners availability of wagons in advance and profiteers from the scarcity, they said.
An indent is a booking demand raised by a customer seeking to use the railway wagons for transporting commodities.
Earlier this year, the railways had made submission of a letter of credit (LC) while booking an indent compulsory. Details of the LC are fed on the Freight Operations Information System of the Indian Railways. These include information such as LC number, date of issue and expiry, name of bank and beneficiary, tonnage moved by any other mode of transport on the same LC.
Under the revised guidelines, an indent can be placed after feeding in the commodity that will be transported and the route.