DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: The Comptroller and Auditor General has detected large scale irregularities in the utilization of funds under the MP’s Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) in Andhra Pradesh.
“The monetary value of various irregularities\deficiencies in the implementation of MPLADS worked out to Rs 70.29 crore between 2003-04 and 2008-09 financial years. The irregularities include non-completion of works, diversion of funds, irregular payments, etc.,” the CAG said in its report (civil) for the year ended March 31, 2009, tabled in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
While works taken up under MPLADS have to be completed within one year, as many as 2,657 works taken up between 2003-04 and 2006-07 still remain incomplete. A sum of Rs 9.07 crore was already spent on these unfinished works.
Similarly, 1360 works sanctioned during the same period at a cost of Rs 23.37 crore were not even started, resulting in locking up of funds, the CAG report pointed out.
In respect of Lok Sabha members, a sum of Rs 1.90 crore was not passed on to the successor MPs in Vizianagaram and West Godavari districts and it thus remained unspent as of January 2009. In case of Rajya Sabha members from the state, the amount was Rs 75 lakh.
In Machilipatnam Lok Sabha constituency, 14 works worth Rs 33 lakh were sanctioned by the district Collector in 2006-07 on the recommendation of an officer in charge though the MP concerned did not recommend them. Utilisation certificates were not submitted in respect of works worth Rs 3.85 crore in Vizianagaram, Guntur and Prakasam districts, the report said.
The report also noted that monitoring of the MPLADS works by the Chief Planning Officers was poor while there was also no proper accounting and monitoring system for effective implementation of the scheme.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
How YSR favoured "Satyam" Raju: The CAG view
DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh, headed by the then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, doled out “undue benefit” to the tune of Rs 165.75 crore to erstwhile Satyam Computers Limited by allotting 50 acres of prime land at a throwaway price.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, in its latest report submitted to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, while castigating the Congress government on this land deal, observed: “This transaction was violative of the constitutional provisions of equality of opportunity and did not meet the requirement of transparency.”
The state government allotted 50 acres of land to Satyam Computers near Visakhapatnam in December 2008 at a concessional rate of Rs 10 lakh per acre. Satyam was actually entitled to get only 7.5 acres at concessional rate and the rest at market value (Rs 4 crore to 4.55 crore an acre).
“As against Rs 170 crore payable, Satyam paid a meager amount of Rs 4.25 crore. The allotment of land in excess of the limits prescribed in the Information and Communications Technology Policy resulted in an undue benefit of at least Rs 165.75 crore to the company,” the CAG said in the report.
The CAG also found fault with the Rajasekhara Reddy administration over awarding the work related to development of Machilipatnam Port to Maytas-led consortium, which caused a financial liability of Rs 335 crore on the government.
The port was originally proposed to be developed at Gogileru but later the location was shifted to Gilakaladinne. “The government failed to insist on financial bids for both the locations. The additional cost of Rs 335 crore claimed by the consortium suffers from a major deficiency of vitiating the tender process in that the port was to be developed on a revenue-sharing basis with zero investment by the government. Acceptance of the bid from the firm was objectionable as it did not submit any bid originally for Gilakaladinne,” the CAG noted.
But the government not only agreed to the payment of Rs 335 crore in January 2008 but also handed over 412.57 acres of land to the consortium in September 2008, the CAG added.
Hyderabad: The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh, headed by the then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, doled out “undue benefit” to the tune of Rs 165.75 crore to erstwhile Satyam Computers Limited by allotting 50 acres of prime land at a throwaway price.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, in its latest report submitted to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, while castigating the Congress government on this land deal, observed: “This transaction was violative of the constitutional provisions of equality of opportunity and did not meet the requirement of transparency.”
The state government allotted 50 acres of land to Satyam Computers near Visakhapatnam in December 2008 at a concessional rate of Rs 10 lakh per acre. Satyam was actually entitled to get only 7.5 acres at concessional rate and the rest at market value (Rs 4 crore to 4.55 crore an acre).
“As against Rs 170 crore payable, Satyam paid a meager amount of Rs 4.25 crore. The allotment of land in excess of the limits prescribed in the Information and Communications Technology Policy resulted in an undue benefit of at least Rs 165.75 crore to the company,” the CAG said in the report.
The CAG also found fault with the Rajasekhara Reddy administration over awarding the work related to development of Machilipatnam Port to Maytas-led consortium, which caused a financial liability of Rs 335 crore on the government.
The port was originally proposed to be developed at Gogileru but later the location was shifted to Gilakaladinne. “The government failed to insist on financial bids for both the locations. The additional cost of Rs 335 crore claimed by the consortium suffers from a major deficiency of vitiating the tender process in that the port was to be developed on a revenue-sharing basis with zero investment by the government. Acceptance of the bid from the firm was objectionable as it did not submit any bid originally for Gilakaladinne,” the CAG noted.
But the government not only agreed to the payment of Rs 335 crore in January 2008 but also handed over 412.57 acres of land to the consortium in September 2008, the CAG added.
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