Punjab: Kandi tubewell project delay vexes CAG
In its annual review of the working of public works divisions for the financial year 2022-23, the principal accountant general (audit) said the delay in allotment of works for implementation of the tubewell project is depriving the benefit of additional irrigation for 51,939 acres of land in five districts of the state and led to non-utilisation of funds.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pulled up the water resources department for delaying the implementation of a ₹195.91-crore project for the installation and energisation of 502 deep tubewells for irrigation purposes in Kandi area of the state.
In its annual review of the working of public works divisions for the financial year 2022-23, the principal accountant general (audit) said the delay in allotment of works for implementation of the tubewell project is depriving the benefit of additional irrigation for 51,939 acres of land in five districts of the state and led to non-utilisation of funds. The project, approved in 2020 for installation of tubewells in SAS Nagar, Rupnagar, SBS Nagar, Hoshiarpur, and Pathankot districts, was to be completed in two years.
According to the report made available to the state government last month, a test check of records revealed that out of a total of 502 works of installation of tubewells, the Punjab Water Resources Management and Development Corporation (PWRMDC) allotted only 28 and the work on the remaining 477 tubewells had not yet been started. The corporation was given ₹31.34 crore initially, out of which it spent ₹5.05 crore and returned the balance amount of ₹26.34 crore to the treasury, it said.
90 tubewells to be installed by March 31: Corporation
However, Pawan Kapur, chief engineer, water resources, and managing director, PWRMDC, said the corporation installed and energised 90 tubewells in the Kandi area in 2022-23 and another 90 would be completed by March 31 this year. “These tubewells are installed in areas where canal water is not available. It is a lengthy and time-consuming process involving the identification of the site, testing to check groundwater availability, installation of tubewells, energisation after taking an electricity connection from PSPCL and laying a pipeline to take water to fields. There are several constraints, but the corporation is on task and made considerable progress,” he said.
The project estimates for the installation of 502 tubewells for irrigation in different blocks of Kandi area were granted administrative approval by the then government in August 2020 with an estimated cost of ₹39 lakh per tubewell. Kandi area is the sub-mountain area which constitutes 11.24% of the total area of the state comprising of Shivalik foothills. It extends from Dera Bassi Block in SAS Nagar district to parts of Rupnagar, SBS Nagar, Hoshiarpur, and Pathankot districts and a total of 1,414 villages of these districts fall under the Kandi area.
The federal auditor, who conducted the review to bring to light the irregularities and deficiencies, also questioned the delay in construction of the office building of PWRMDC in Mohali, which resulted in a substantial increase in the cost of construction. It said the corporation was allotted a site measuring 2,364 square yards in Sector 68 by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) in August 2016 for setting up its office, and its architect, appointed to prepare the architectural and structural drawings, delayed the building plan by five years. The building plan was approved by GMADA in April 2021.
‘Mohali med college site finalised in haste, resulted in losses’
The audit department has blamed the “lack of appropriate mechanism” and “undue haste” in choosing a site for construction of a medical college in Mohali for an “ungainful expenditure” of ₹5.26 crore. The state government took the decision to construct the medical college at Jujhar Nagar in Mohali in 2019.
It said the work for planning and designing the college and construction of boundary wall and approach road were allotted to three contractors between November 2020 and December 2021. The state government, meanwhile, took a fresh view and decided to build the medical college at Knowledge City in Sector 81, Mohali.
“Due to the lack of appropriate mechanism to choose the site for the project of this magnitude, the department spent an amount of ₹5.26 crore without any requirement,” said the report based on irregularities noticed by the department.
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Auditor’s findings
*A test check of records revealed that out of a total of 502 works of installation of tubewells, the Punjab Water Resources Management and Development Corporation allotted only 28 and the work on the remaining 477 tubewells had not yet been started
*The corporation was given ₹31.34 crore initially, out of which it spent ₹5.05 crore and returned the balance amount of ₹26.34 crore to the treasury, it said
*The delay in allotment of works for implementation of the tubewell project is depriving the benefit of additional irrigation for 51,939 acres of land in five districts of the state