Glaring irregularities in MPLADS funds use detected

patna: the comptroller and auditorgeneral (cag) has detected glaring instances of irregular expenditure to thetune of several lakhs of rupees in the mps’ local area development scheme(mplads) in bihar and other states. the cag, in its recent audit report, hassaid that audit findings have revealed that since the creation of the fund in1993 till the financial year ending 2001, a significant part of the releasedmoney to mps “was not utilised�. “the works that were carriedout in a large number of cases did not qualify for definition of durable assetsand there were instances of irregularities like excess expenditure, excesspayment, overpayment to contractors, wasteful expenditure, miscellaneousirregularities in purchase, abandonment of works, execution of petty works,irregular payment of supervision and percentage charge, frauds andmisappropriation,� the cag report says. in bihar alone, the cag report hasdetected irregularities like completion of works lower than estimated cost,clubbing of fund with the fund of other schemes in patna and muzaffarpur,sanction of works for commercial and private organisations in patna, irregularsanction of works in patna, muzaffarpur and nalanda, expenditure on inadmissibleworks in nalanda, execution of works without recommendations of mp in patna,irregular award of contract in muzaffarpur, nalanda and patna and deficienciesin quality of works on roads in patna, misappropriation of funds in patna andmishandling of fund again in patna. on these heads, irregularities of over rs 40crore have been detected in bihar alone. commenting on the poor administrationof schemes, involving wastage, idling funds, irregular and inadmissibleexpenditure and frauds highlighted in the current and 1998 audit reports, thecag report said that since the inception of the scheme in december 1993, rs5017.80 crore was released against which rs 3,221.21 crore has been spent,utilising only 64.2 per cent. during the period from 1997-98 to 1999-2000, thecentral government released 84.43 per cent (rs 2,668 crore) of the allottedbudget provision of rs 3,160 crore. from its inception till the end of march2000, 35.80 per cent of the total release by the union government, amounting tors 1796.59 crore, remained unspent with the district collectors and implementingagencies involving 20,874 incomplete works out of a total of 41,955 schemes.during 1993-2000, against the release of over rs 462.10 crore for bihar, aboutrs 305.41 crore has been utilised in the state. in seven states, includingbihar, the respective district administrations allowed expenditure to the tuneof over rs 148.54 crore on works pertaining to places of religious worship suchas development work on ram krishna mission, construction of fishery tanks withmasjid, boundary walls of temples, sarai\guest houses in temples etc. violatingthe guidelines. a sum of rs 9.86 lakh has been spent on such work from an mpquota in bihar like such expenditures in 12 constituencies assam, madhyapradesh, himachal pradesh, jammu and kashmir, orissa and sikkim. furtherviolating guidelines, an mp of bihar, in connivance with the districtadministration, has topped in the country while making irregular expenditure ofrs 31.05 lakh in constructing memorial building. in ten states, whose districtadministrations have awarded 1,688 irregular contracts from the mplads fund,three constituencies in bihar — muzaffarpur, nalanda and patna — andranchi in jharkhand allotted irregular contract works, worth over rs 8.84 crorethrough their district magistrates directly to contractors. in patna alone,bitumen worth over rs 94,000 was purchased in an irregular manner. apart fromthat, in patna alone, the test check of 139 works in 12 blocks revealed thatrates charged for cement issued to contractors by the implementing agencies werers 115 per bag in 1997-98 and rs 125 in 1998-2000 against rs 155 bags asreflected in the approved estimate, resulting into short recovery of rs 21.47lakh from them. in patna sadar block, it was detected that inadmissible paymentof rs 2.26 lakh was made in an irregular manner.