Audit flags irregularities in Rs 75 crore expenditures in Belagavi City Corporation

Belagavi: A special audit of the Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) for the financial years 2018-19 to 2020-21 has uncovered serious irregularities, raising concerns over financial discipline and administrative accountability within the civic body.The audit has flagged 24 objections involving expenditure of Rs 75.1 crore, while identifying Rs 7 crore across 10 cases as recoverable. More significantly, when arrears from previous years are included, the total pending recovery amount has escalated to Rs 80.4 crore, underscoring a growing financial burden on the corporation.The findings, communicated through an official report by the state audit and accounts department's Belagavi regional office to the BCC commissioner, point to systemic lapses rather than isolated errors. Auditors have cited a lack of proper documentation, irregular payments, violations of tender norms, discrepancies in work estimates, and failure to collect statutory fees and taxes.Irregularities have been reported across multiple departments, including road works, street lighting, drainage systems, underground drainage (UGD) projects, taxation, trade licences, and building permits. The audit also highlights inconsistencies in measurement records, billing and payments, indicating weak internal controls.Several objections pertain to payments made without supporting documents, execution of works bypassing due procedures, and extension of undue benefits to ineligible contractors. In some cases, there were clear mismatches between the quantity of work executed and the payments released. Auditors have also flagged non-collection of cess, royalty and other mandatory charges, leading to revenue losses.A portion of the expenditure has been categorised as ‘unproductive', suggesting that funds were spent without demonstrable outcomes, approvals or adequate records. High-value objections have been recorded in sewerage and sewage treatment plant (STP) works in Hanuman Nagar, as well as in several deposit works.The audit further highlights issues such as single-tender approvals, eligibility disputes, and inconsistencies between work certificates and payments in projects like the installation of street lights and asphalt repairs, pointing to the absence of robust monitoring mechanisms.Equally concerning are the pending recoveries. The Rs 80.4 crore yet to be recovered includes uncollected taxes, licence fees, cess, royalty and other statutory dues, some of which have remained outstanding for years.Records indicate that cumulative audit objections, including those from previous years, stand at Rs 696.3 crore, reflecting a long-standing pattern of financial mismanagement.The scale of the irregularities raises critical questions about accountability within the corporation. With public funds meant for civic infrastructure and services under scrutiny, the audit has intensified concerns over governance and transparency, prompting calls for corrective action and responsibility from officials concerned.Responding to the issue, BCC commissioner Karthik K, speaking to the TOI, said, "I already went through the audit report. As far as the objections raised by the auditors are concerned, we will write a reply to them. I hope the objections will reduce significantly once we write the clarification on the objections," he said.