FAILURE TO STRIKE DEAL MAY HAVE COST DJB ₹3.95 CRORE

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India report has criticised the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for its “failure” to procure an agreement with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) before supplying it with treated effluent water for the golf course in Bhalswa.

This resulted in the “non recovery of ₹3.95 crore as cost of the (water) supplied from April 2004 to March 2016,” said the report tabled on Friday.

The report said that during the audit of the DJB division, and the Sewerage Treatment Plant at Coronation Pillar for the 2014-15 period, they found that the DDA drew 3,538 kl of treated waste water daily for gardening at the golf course in Bhalswa, as estimated by the DJB.

A senior DJB official said that an agreement was not necessary. “There is no need for an agreement. The rates are notified, and we have records of the amount of water that was given,” he said.

The CAG report pointed out that the e-rickshaw scheme launched by the Delhi government in March 2015 failed to take off.

The government had decided to provide financial assistance for purchase of e-rickshaws under which it was expected to finance 2,000 e-rickshaws by providing up to 80% of the cost of new e-rickshaw at an interest rate of 13%. The corporation got 550 applications by September 2015 of which 304 were sanctioned. It disbursed ₹1.87 crore till March 31, 2016 in 226 cases.

The CAG also found that the Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited failed to recover concession fee resulting in short recovery of ₹1.49 crore.