373 incomplete projects in 36 departments
Morung Express News
Kohima | March 28
Nagaland had 373 incomplete projects relating to 36 departments with an estimated cost of Rs. 3004.76 crore and 41 cases of misappropriations, defalcation etc involving Rs. 597.63 crore pending finalization, highlighted the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report for the year ended March 31, 2016.
The Report was laid today at the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. The report contains six chapters on five performance audits – implementation of Right to Education Act 2009, Creation Maintenance and Management of Tourism infrastructure, Activities of Nagaland State Transport Department, Nagaland State Lotteries, and Computerization of Motor Vehicles Department including 12 Compliance audit paragraphs.
373 incomplete projects
The Audit report which provides an analytical review of the Annual Accounts of the State Government revealed 373 incomplete projects (estimate cost Rs. 3004.76 crore and actual expenditure incurred Rs. 2100.61 crore) relating to 36 departments out of which 211 projects (estimate cost Rs. 2110.91 crore and actual expenditure Rs. 1091.36 crore) were due to be completed by March 2016 but remained incomplete till October 2016. Two projects (estimated cost Rs. 10.93 crore and actual expenditure Rs. 10.47 crore) were suspended or abandoned.
Due to delay in completion of the projects, AP Chophy, Accountant General (Audit) later stated in a press conference in at the AG Office, the intended benefits from these projects did not reach the beneficiaries in the State. The date of completion of the rest 57 projects could not be furnished by the departments.
Collection of fees against RTE act
Chophy further informed that a sum of Rs. 30.03 lakh were collected as fees from the children in the 3 test-checked districts in government schools as grants were not released. This is in contravention of Right to Education Act, 2009, he added.
Further, the CAG detected avoidable expenditure of Rs. 11.96 crore incurred due to excess procurement of school uniform. Till September 2016, a total of 10,690 teachers (65%) in government schools were yet to be trained, which according to the CAG, “compromise on the quality of education in the State.”
‘Nil’ returns on investment
The average return of the investment of the Rs. 290.60 crore made by the Government in Statutory Corporations, rural banks, Joint Stock Companies and Co-operatives at the end of March 2016 was ‘Nil’ during the previous four years (2011-15) while there was a return of Rs. 4.95 crore during 2015-16.
“Timely submission of utilization certificate is a major area of concern,” stated Chophy while highlighting the findings on the Financial Reporting (an inventory of Nagaland Government’s compliance with various requirements and financial rules) where 76 Utilization certificates involving an aggregate amount of Rs. 145.98 crore were pending for submission even after a lapse of one to five years from various departments. Further, 41 cases of misappropriations, defalcation etc involving 597.63 crore in 15 departments, private firms and various other departments were pending finalization.
Tourism infra lies dormant
Two projects (Mega Destination Dimapur and Tourist Destination Chesezu) were abandoned after incurring a total expenditure of Rs. 15.95 crore while the Convention Centre, Dimapur constructed at the cost of Rs. 4.57 crore is currently lying dormant as the facilities approved were not provided. A total of Rs. 19.63 crore was paid by the Department for unexecuted items of work.
The State Institute of Hotel Management Dimapur which was constructed with Rs. 17.69 crore is yet to be functional even after nine years. 16 infrastructure developed by the Tourism Department through GoI funding were illegally occupied by private individuals without executing deed of agreement with the Department, the report said. Further, under the Department, Rs. 50.74 lakh received as compensation from National Highway Authority of India through the Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur was not deposited into the Government account.
Compliance Audit Paragraphs
The Executive Engineer of Public Works (Roads and Bridges) Division Dimapur made excess and inadmissible payment of Rs. 8.01 crore to a contractor by arbitrarily increasing the rates of three items of work, the CAG report said. The CAG findings also revealed that a Block Development Officer transferred an amount of Rs. 2.53 crore to two private bank accounts out of the fund of Rs. 8.69 crore received under MGNREGS during 2013-14 where misappropriation of Rs. 2.53 crore could not be ruled out. The Department of Fisheries obtained fund of Rs. 4.99 crore from the GoI on basis of doubtful beneficiaries list and the full amount was paid to an individual who was not among the eligible beneficiary. Out of which, Rs. 1.77 crore was without actual execution of civil works.
Nagaland State Lotteries
The selection of distributor for conducting lotteries, according to the CAG report, is not transparent which led to a court case. During 2010-16, against the total receipt from the sale of tickets of 17,653.74 crore the net proceeds was Rs. 4579.17 crore. Against this, the share of the State Government in the form of was only Rs. 56.93 crore (1.24 %) while the distributor’s share was Rs. 4522.24 crore (98.67 %). During 2010-11 to 2014-15, the profit and loss accounts of the distributor showed that the distributor received Rs. 10.73 crore as prize money on unsold tickets which was not remitted to Government account.
Activities of NST
The Department irregularly diverted funds from the revenue receipts to meet departmental expenditure, according to the report. The Department also claimed subsidy from GoI for 703 chartered services used by VIPs and Government officials on subsidized rate.
Computerisation of Motor Vehicles Department
Instances of short remittance of revenue to Government account ranging from Rs. 1.06 lakh to Rs. 2.55 crore in selected district were noticed. Till March 2016, revenue of Rs. 8.37 crore was retained in a bank account in contravention of the terms of agreement.
