Early Times Reports
Jammu, Jan 30: Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) has revealed various contradictions and anomalies in the utilization of funds under the Prime Minister’s Development Package meant for maintaining law and order in Jammu and Kashmir.
Initially, a project worth Rs 500 Crores was approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs in October 2017 for procuring high-end security system to be completed by March 2020. Out of this, CAG points out that purchases were made for equipment and vehicles worth Rs 100 Crore by Police Headquarters without inviting tenders.
The funds were to be used for establishing integrated command centres (one each in Srinagar and Jammu), district command centres and CCTV surveillance system for the National Highway from Lakhanpur to Srinagar.
Furthermore, the funds were intended for the procurement of specially designed anti-riot vehicles, helmets, gas masks, group shields especially for Women protection units, Bullet Proof (BP) Bunker Vehicle, wireless communication centre for better communication among other equipment for maintaining the law-and-order situation.
Central Government had sanctioned over Rs 645 crores for the project over the span of four financial years. Out of this, home department failed to utilize over Rs 354 crores.
“During the period from 2016 to 2019, Rs 501.86 crore were released, out of which an expenditure of Rs 261.96 crore (52 per cent) was incurred by the (home) department,” the CAG said.
“The unspent balances increased from Rs 2.77 crore as of April 2017 to Rs 79.78 crore at the close of March 2019. Further, during the year 2019-20 an amount of Rs 119 crore was sanctioned by the GoI under the project and an expenditure of Rs 29.77 crore had been incurred by the department, leaving a balance of Rs 89.23 crore unutilised as of 31 March 2020,” it said.
The CAG said that during the year 2020-21 (up to August 2020), an amount of Rs 25.15 crore was released by the Union government against which no expenditure had been incurred (till August 2020).
CAG pointed out that under the project, 56 items and works were to be procured and installed and out of which the procurement of 33 items and works (59 per cent) was completed by the department as of August 2020.
It further lambasted the home department for its failure to take up the integrated command centers and its linked components for execution as of August 31, 2020.
Similarly, the procurement of 413 CCTVs for police stations was under tendering process even in August 2020, the report said.
The CAG said 669 vehicles of various types (bulletproof bunkers, Rakshak vehicles, Gypsy, anti-riot vehicles, hydraulic crane, JCB, tractor) were sanctioned and only 547 had been procured, of which 499 vehicles had been delivered as of August 2020.
The CAG, in its report, took serious note of the home department’s single-vendor purchases without ascertaining the reasonability of rates and avoidable expenditures in purchase of the high-end security system.
As per the report, equipment and vehicles worth Rs 100 Crore were purchased by Jammu and Kashmir Police without tendering due to “urgent requirement”.
The purchases worth Rs 100.27 crore included vehicles, body protectors, bulletproof patkas, anti-riot vehicles, farm track tractors and backhoe loaders.
The CAG also pointed out that audit scrutiny of records revealed that the department had made purchases from particular firms and single sources, which resulted in an avoidable expenditure of Rs 9.20 crore.
The department purchased seven MBP vehicles at higher rates from Ashok Leyland Limited, despite lower rates offered by Tata Motors Limited thereby incurring an extra expenditure, it said.
Although the department had taken the plea that MBP vehicles are a proprietary item, the process of placing supply orders with both the firms was self-contradictory, the CAG said.
“Thus, considering the nature of urgency in such purchases, the department may adopt a streamlined procedure, consistent with the objectives of the high-end security,” it noted.
“The reply is not tenable in view of the fact that similar machinery and equipment and bulletproof vehicles were manufactured by several firms and that reasonability of rates even from authorised dealers and firms was not ensured by the department”, the reports added.
Purchases from specific firms the CAG reports read, “Audit scrutiny of records revealed that the department had made purchases from particular firms and single source, which resulted in avoidable expenditure of Rs 9.20 crores”.
The project was approved with a view to enabling the Jammu & Kashmir Police to respond promptly to various law and order situations, counter-insurgency operations, and handling of law and order through the use of the latest technology and non-lethal equipment without damage to life and property. Yet, most of the components of the project remained unfulfilled due to the under-utilization of funds and unnecessary expenditure. |
