Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Friday slammed the Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi government in its voluminous report on all counts — from streetscaping to flyovers.

Following are the highlights:

On Streetlights:

The decision to use imported street lights on selected roads was not based on technical parameters, but was taken with the active involvement of the chief minister, which resulted in avoidable expenditure of more than Rs.30 crore.

On Games village:

There was a series of misrepresentations and accommodations at various stages that resulted in Emaar MGF Constructions Pvt. Ltd, emerging as an eligible (and successful) bidder through the consortium route.

Emaar MGF also illegally constructed 17 additional dwelling units in the basement meant for parking at the residential complex. DDA allowed several financial concessions to Emaar MGF, including revision of milestones and delayed/non-levy of liquidated damages, said the report

No compliance with the mitigation measures on the river Yamuna as stipulated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests while according conditional environmental clearance. DDA essentially attempted to abdicate responsibility for this issue.

On Roads and Flyovers:

The city government undertook construction of 25 roads and bridges near Games venue for upgradation of city infrastructure.

The CAG found there was irregular award of work in two road projects and noticed cases of non-compliance with quality standards.

Public Works Department (PWD) awarded work for construction of two foot overbridges for Rs.10.35 crore at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. As one of the bridges collapsed, work was stopped rendering the payment of Rs.8.65 crore till date.

No consultation with the traffic police to assess the impact of streetscaping, beautifying projects on city’s huge volume of traffic.

The CAG report could not find any venue wise break-up of the plants required or any other yard stick in support of the assessment of the requirement of plants.

On Communication system:

For effective communication around the games venue, Delhi government awarded the contract for Tetra - professional mobile communications - to HCL-Motorola at Rs.99.81 crore for an 87 month period.

The CAG found that the decision to extend Tetra for legacy use for seven years was ill-conceived.

On beautification and streetscaping

Streetscaping and beautification of roads done at an exorbitant average cost of Rs.4.8 crore/km and awarded and executed in an ad hoc and arbitrary manner wasting public funds worth Rs.101.02 crore.

For implementation of streetscaping, beautifying, the government did not obtain clearance from Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC)-the nodal agency for preserving, developing and maintaining the city’s aesthetic quality.

As far as greening near the CWG venues was concerned, the Delhi government proposed for creation 30-50 lakh potted plants. The proposal was approved by Dikshit in Aug 2008.

On Connaught Place:

Pointing at various deficiencies in contract management, CAG said that in the inner and outer circles of CP, granite stone kerb instead of concrete was used “with a difference in expenditure of Rs.5.97 crore”.

The renovation work in Connaught Place (CP) was plagued by bad organisation on part of the civic agency and “significant deficiencies” in awarding of contracts which led to “avoidable” expenditure.