CAG censures Delhi govt.

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, April 20

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has come down heavily on the Delhi government for its poor implementation of several projects and financial impropriety in government departments. The report for the year ending March 2006 was tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Friday.

Education: Delay on the part of the Directorate of Education in finalising arrangements for computer education project-V deprived about 1.97 lakh students of government schools of the intended benefit for the bulk of the academic session 2005-06. It also resulted in idling of equipment worth Rs 12.37 crore for one year. Similarly, delay by the education authorities in shifting of computer systems and IT assistants, leased from a private contractor to schools for which they were intended, resulted in non-utilisation of computers and the services of IT assistants and unfruitful expenditure of Rs 58.42 lakh.

Health: A performance audit of the functioning of four major hospitals was conducted by the CAG to assess their functioning in terms of providing proper medical care by efficient use of available resources and infrastructure. The hospitals included Lok Nayak Hospital (LNH) and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) under the Delhi government and Hindu Rao (HR) under the MCD and Charak Palika Hospital under the NDMC. The performance audit revealed that the strength of medical, para medical and nursing staff in the four hospitals was less than adequate which adversely affected patient care. The waiting time of patients, who had been advised surgeries, increased substantially. Patient load and bed crunch was another problem. In addition, purchase of equipment and medicines lacked financial probity and hospital ambulances were not utilised for bona fide purpose of shifting the patients alone. The report gave details of the lapses in each of the hospitals.

Power: The report said the release of funds of Rs 105.51 crore under the Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme (APDRP) to private distcoms was not in conformity with the guidelines. The Delhi government released the funds to the distcoms even as the guidelines said it was meant for the state electricity boards. The Ministry of Power made it clear that the funds could not be given to private entities.

Water: The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) failed to recover cess of Rs 2.68 crores from the bills of contractors. The report said this meant violation of the stipulated laws. Moreover, it provided electricity to its staff near a sewage treatment plant from a bulk connection paying commercial rates while it charged only fixed rates from the residents. This led to a loss of Rs 63.54 lakh.

Transport: The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) continued to incur heavy losses. The cumulative losses increased from Rs 1,082 crores in 2001-02 to a massive Rs 4,008 crore by March 2006. It also failed on several fronts leading to financial losses.

Taxes: Due to errors, the tax collected from VAT led to losses of around Rs 60 crore to the exchequer. There was also a short realisation of entertainment tax of Rs 53.60 lakh due to incorrect exhibition of numbers of cable connection. The CAG report said the system of internal control and monitoring was weak.

While the Opposition described the report as a “severe blow” to the government, the government claimed it would go through it in details before replying to it. “The fact file of the government is serious and proves our allegation that it is an inefficient government,” said Leader of Opposition Jagdish Mukhi. Delhi’s Finance Minister A.K. Walia said he is yet to go through the entire report.

CAG indictment of govt rocks Delhi Assembly

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, April 23

The severe indictment of the Delhi government in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India(CAG) rocked the Delhi Assembly on Monday. The opposition leveled charges of corruption and inefficiency against the government and demanded its dismissal.

As soon as the Question Hour began, Leader of Opposition Jagdish Mukhi brought an adjournment motion seeking to suspend all business of the House to discuss the report. He referred to the last report of the CAG on power privatisation in which the government body had found severe irregularities in the entire process. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Delhi Assembly too had favoured a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities. “Why wasn’t a CBI inquiry ordered into the deal?” asked Mukhi.

Delhi BJP President Harsh Vardhan said such a shameful episode had never taken place in Delhi when the CAG found severe lapses and still the government failed to act on it.

As the Opposition members were shouting hoarse on the issue, Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh refused to permit the adjournment motion. The real drama then started. Shouting slogans against the government, the BJP MLAs jumped into the Well of the House, one at a time. First it was Jai Bhagwan. The Speaker summoned the Marshals who moved him out of the House.

Soon Karan Singh Tanwar jumped into the Well and reached the Speaker’s chair and began arguing. He too was physically removed. “The government has to reply why no action was taken in the last one year,” said Mukhi. He too was removed. BJP Chief Whip S.S. Chauhan flashed the copies of the CAG report and said “these are the black deeds of this government”. After his removal, it was the turn of H.S. Balli, Ramesh Bidhuri and Vijay Jolly. “The government has no moral authority to continue in office after the indictment by CAG and inaction on last year’s report,” said Jolly.

Asked about the CAG report in a press conference after the session, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said an Action Taken Report would be submitted to the Assembly later. But why was the government shying from handing over the probe to the CBI? “We have given our reply to the PAC,” said Dikshit without elaborating further. (2007)