Govt laxity in executing projects faces CAG fire
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has come down heavily on various departments of the Delhi government and municipal corporations for their failure to effectively implement several projects. The auditor said there was an evident lack of seriousness in timely enforcement of the provisions relating to the recovery of government dues that resulted in an increase of arrears by 31 per cent at the end of 2014-15 in the department of Trade and Taxes, which is responsible for VAT collection that forms a major chunk of revenue generation.
Rapping the healthcare sector, the auditor said that the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) and Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic (DEM) Blocks of Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital constructed at a cost of `72.07 crore remained underutilised even after two-four years of their completion due to shortage of staff, non-installation of medical gas pipeline, and delay in procurement of requisite equipment. The auditor also said that none of the One-Stop Centre (OSC) had counsellors to provide psychological assistance to the rape victims. “Audit scrutiny revealed that despite clear directions on recruitment of staff for proper functioning of the OSC, hospitals did not initiate steps for recruitment of required staff,” the report stated.
The worst was the case with the education sector where the enrolment in Class 1 in the government and aided schools has decreased by a massive 23 per cent from 2,04,884 in 2010-11 to 1,56,911 in 2015-16. The government even lacked an effective planning for implementation of the RTE Act in Delhi. The auditor said that even uniforms, textbooks and writing material was not distributed to students of 34 selected MCD schools.
Raising serious concern over the functioning of the trade and taxes department for showing lack of seriousness in tax collections, the auditor said that the arrears have significantly increased from `15,249 crore in 2012-13 to `20,039 in 2014-15.
The report added that no inspection was carried out by the food safety department in 97 per cent of cases.
The explosive CAG report highlights failure of the mega project to revamp Rajiv Chowk. The auditor generals’ report said that the scope of the project was drastically reduced from `615.20 crore to `477.02 crore.
In its preamble on the project, the report explained how the increase in footfall and the ageing process has resulted in deterioration of the overall condition o the heritage complex and the original façade of the area.
The CP redevelopment plan was kicked off as a pilot project with the facade restoration of C Block. It was scheduled for completion ahead of the Commonwealth Games in October 2010.
The makeover of the running heritage has been long overdue and now, with a few recent incidents highlighting the structural ageing of the arena, makes the issue more urgent. The central Delhi hub gets around 5,00,000 visitors daily.
The report further explains the major flaw in the upkeep of the buildings.
“Restoration of the façade was completed only in the outer and inner circles while the study to ascertain the structural stability of the buildings was not carried out. Facilities like subways, escalators, underground parking space and improvement of landscaping and lighting intended to ease both traffic and pedestrian movement was not completed.”
While the report talks of under utilisation of funds, it has also given details of projects and expenses which have been “rendered unfruitful.”
“The expenditure amounting to `14.67 crore on utility corridors and surface development and water supply was rendered unfruitful.”
The report also gave out discrepancies in expenses incurred.
“The turnkey consultants, Engineers India Ltd, did not submit the financial implications of change in technology adopted for construction of service tunnel to NDMC for review and decision despite increase in cost from the original `71.21crore to `192.95 crore.