Highlights of CAG report which is submitted in the assembly today.

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                                                                        31^st March, 2015

 

For Press Media

 

Highlights of CAG report which is submitted in the assembly today.

 

1. 1.     The Performance Audit on “Protection and Welfare of Girl Child”                   (Test checked records of eight districts)

 

• Gujarat State Child Protection Society (GSCPS) had not formulated the State Child Protection Policy and State Plan of Action. District Child Protection Plans were not prepared due to delay in engaging an agency for the work.
• As per Nari Gaurav Niti, the State Government shall promote convergence of programmes and schemes of various Departments and organisations to address identified cross-cutting issues. However, no efforts were made by the nodal department (Women and Child Development Department) for convergence of programmes implemented by Home Department and Social Justice & Empowerment Department (SJED). Cent per cent registration of marriage by Women and Child Development Department in co-ordination with Rural Development Department and SJED was not done.
• Sex ratio at birth in 15 out of 26 districts in the State declined in 2013 as compared to 2012 as per data of Civil Registration System.
• Child sex ratio (0-6 years age group) in rural areas was greater than that in Urban Areas. Modern electronic media such as TV and Radio had not been utilised effectively though envisaged. The mortality of female child as compared to male child remained higher during 2009-13.
• As against the pregnancies registered in the e-Mamta portal, the deliveries registered was less, leaving huge difference.
• Inadequate inspection of clinics by District Appropriate Authorities. Maintenance of proper records and compliance of regulations was inadequate at the Clinic level however, the same was not ensured by the District Appropriate Authorities due to lack of inspection.
• Out of total 181 cases filed under PC&PNDT Act, only 49 cases had been finalised as of March 2014 and out of 49 cases finalised, only in six cases, the delinquents were convicted. The pendency period of these cases ranged from one to 12 years.
• The PC&PNDT Act empowers the Appropriate Authority (AA) to conduct search and seizure of records of any Genetic Clinic, Ultrasound Clinic, Imaging Centre or any other place providing facility of sonography. Required number of sting/decoy operations were not conducted and records of unsuccessful sting/decoy operations were not maintained.
• Rule 9 of the PC&PNDT Rules, 1996 provides that every genetic clinic shall maintain a record in respect of each man or woman subjected to any pre-natal diagnostic procedure/technique/test in form ‘F’. The Hon’ble High Court of Gujarat also directed (June 2011) that all form ‘F’ should be submitted online from June 2012. However, 905 out of 3397 clinics were not submitting their form ‘F’ online and no action had been taken against these clinics by the State Government.
• Out of 659 complaints of child marriages received during 2009-14, court cases were filed in only 15 cases (two per cent) and not a single person was convicted in the State. In cases of pre-marriage complaints received, though sufficient evidences like marriage cards, birth certificates, etc, had been collected by District Child Marriage Prohibition Officers, sufficient follow-up action as required under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 had not been taken.
• The State Government had not released the adequate funds as approved by GoI during the years 2010-11 and 2012-14 to Gujarat State Child Protection Society, Specialised Adoption Agencies, Children’s Homes, etc. under Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). Final instalment was not paid to many NGO-run Children’s Homes as the audit of annual expenditure statement were yet to be conducted by the DSD. Government of India funds were lying unutilised and due to non-reconciliation of expenditure, central assistance was received less by the State Government.
• As per JJ Act 2006, the State Government was required to identify one or more institution in each district as Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA) for the placement of orphaned, abandoned or surrendered children for adoption. In the State, there were no SAA in 12 districts.
• ICPS guidelines provide that the DCPU shall nominate one Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA) in the district as the Cradle Baby Reception Centre with all basic facilities for infants, to rescue the abandoned children and look after them with due care and affection till he/she is given in adoption. Not a single SAA was nominated as Cradle Baby Reception Centre in the State till September 2014.
• ICPS guidelines provide that a child admitted in an SAA should be given for adoption within one year from the date of her admission to the SAA. In the eight SAAs, 24 girls were transferred to Children’s Homes on the attaining age of six years as their adoption procedure could not be completed.
• As per guidelines governing the Adoption of Children, 2011
   if the parents of an orphan or an abandoned child admitted in an SAA on temporary basis were not traceable, and in case of surrendered children, if the reclaiming period of sixty days was over, the SAA shall approach the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for declaring the child legally free for adoption. Adoption procedure for 43 girl children could not be finalised due to pendency in issuance of certificate by Child Welfare Committee for declaring the children legally free for adoption.
• No post adoption follow-up measures had been taken by the SAAs though envisaged in the Adoption of Children, 2011 guidelines.
• Open Shelters in urban and semi-urban areas cater to all children in need of care and protection, particularly beggars, street and working children, rag pickers, small vendors, run-away children, etc. Ten centres which were in existence were discontinued as their approval was cancelled in June 2011 due to non-availability of infrastructure and thereafter there were no centres. Thus, children in need of care and protection in the State continued to live a vulnerable life and were deprived of the facility of safe environment in Open Shelters.
• Though JJ Act 2000 envisaged for registration of Children’s Homes, in the State, Children’s Homes were found running without registration. Some Children’s Homes were under utilised while in some children’s homes facilities were inadequate i.e. dirty toilets, no compound walls, no playgrounds, no proper drainage facility, prescribed pairs of clothes were not provided to children, children with special needs were accommodated with other children instead of accommodating in separate homes.
• Girls were found escaped from Children’s Homes. Girls escaped from Rajkot are yet to be traced.
• The JJ Act, 2000 and Gujarat JJ Rules, 2011 require separate Children’s Homes for the age group of 7-11 and 12-18 years. All girls were accommodated in a single home instead of being accommodated in separate homes based on age groups. Even girls were accommodated in single dormitory though additional dormitory was available.
• Benefit of Sponsorship Programme with the aim to restore the children staying in Children’s Homes with his/her families was not provided to beneficiaries of 17 districts. Thus, beneficiaries were deprived of financial assistance of Rs. 1,000/- per month to meet educational, medical and other needs. Instances of non-payment of assistance and payment of assistance without proper verification were noticed.
• The JJ Act provides for an after-care programme for children without family or other support, after leaving institutional care on attaining 18 years of age. The State Government had identified in July 2004, 13 Women’s Institutions as after-care centres. However, till September 2014, no girl children had been admitted in the centres.
• Increasing trend of girl child victims of rape case was noticed. The percentage of Girl child victims of rape cases against total cases registered in the State increased from 21.25 (2009) to 36.15 (2013). Instances of non-payment of financial assistance to victims of rape and also delay in payment of assistance were noticed.
• ‘Dikari Yojana’,was introduced with an objective to provide special incentive for couples without a male-child but with one or two daughters who have undergone sterilisation operation. The couples where the wife was 35 years or below were eligible to receive six-year National Saving Certificate of Rs. 6,000 if they had one daughter and Rs. 5,000 if they had two daughters. The rates of financial assistance under Dikari Yojana was not revised since last 27 years as a result of which the number of beneficiaries under the scheme showed a decreasing trend.
• ‘Palak Mata-Pita Yojana’ was introduced with the aim to provide foster care and assistance at the rate of Rs. 1,000 per month per child upto the age of 12 years (can be extended upto 14 years or 18 years in special cases). The benefit of the scheme was not provided to beneficiaries of nine districts. Instances of non-payment of assistance to identified beneficiaries and delay in payment of assistance upto two years were noticed.

2        Implementation of Educational Schemes in selected Tribal dominated Districts (Test checked 40 schools {20 Primary Schools and 20 Upper Primary Schools (UPS)} of 10 talukas, five Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) and 10 RMSA Schools of selected districts)

 

• Though the funds from the Central and State level were released with bifurcation of general and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) grant, no separate accounts of expenditure incurred under general and TSP grant (except for Mid-Day-Meal scheme) were maintained at State and district level.
• Expenditure against available funds was only 12.67 per cent (2011-12),
  14.09 per cent (2012-13) and 22.42 per cent (2013-14).
• District Project Co-ordinators (DPCs) of Dang and Tapi districts had diverted (2011-14) Rs. 24.46 lakh of SSA (Centrally Sponsored Scheme) to Ashram-shalas and Eklavya Model Residential schools of Tribal Development Department (State Sponsored Scheme) in contravention to provisions of grant release order.
• Funds of Rs. 89.55 crore allotted to implementing agency under Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA) as advance were shown as expenditure and incorrect expenditure figures were reported to GoI.
• According to the norms of SSA and RTE Act, there should be at least two teachers in a Primary School (PS) with Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) of 40:1. UpperPrimary School (UPS) shall have atleast one teacher per class so that there shall be at least one teacher each for (i) Science and Mathematics, (ii) Social Studies and (iii) Language with PTR of 35:1.

             PTR was not maintained in 156 PSs and 2,535 UPSs, the highest being 156:1 as against 40:1 in PS and 363:1 as against 35:1             in UPS. 64 schools having 5,698 students had no teachers and 874 schools had only one teacher. Three schools of Valsad              district having 156 ST students had no teachers and 111 out of 6,163 schools had only one teacher.

• SSA framework, 2011 and RTE Act provides that a school building should consist of basic amenities such as safe and adequate drinking water facility to all children, separate toilets for girls, boundary wall, Headmaster Room, separate Library, etc. by March 2013.

The State and district authorities failed to provide playground, separate Library and Computer Room facilities to the students. Three out of 40 schools jointly visited, had no facility of drinking water whereas the district authorities were reporting that all the schools in the district were having drinking water facility, Reverse Osmosis Plants in three schools were not functioning, 11 schools had no compound wall and toilet blocks of two schools were found damaged and unusable.

• In test checked districts, out of 1,87,637 students enrolled in Class I in 2009-10, only 1,58,618 (84.53 per cent) students could be retained in Class V till 2013-14. Similarly, out of 1,17,736 ST students enrolled in Class I in 2009-10, only 96,568 (82.02 per cent) students could be retained in Class V till 2013-14.
• Member Secretaries of 28 SMCs in Dahod and Dang districts had withdrawn
  Rs. 38.54 lakh during 2010-13; however, neither the civil works were taken up nor the amounts were credited back to the SMCs bank account. Thus, retention of this money by the Member Secretaries was fraught with risk of misappropriation, besides depriving the intended benefits to tribal students of classrooms and toilet blocks.
• 11,888 computers were provided to 1,368 schools during the period 2005-06 to 2011-12. However, computer teachers/co-ordinators were not appointed in these schools to impart CAL. Joint field visit of 14 Upper Primary Schools revealed that the computers were lying idle.
• 13 students of Valva faliya (habitation) of Dharva village, studying in class I to V were coming to school in a boat by sailing through Mahi river. Distance of the school through surface road is around six kilometers and through river was around three kilometers. Though the students were eligible for transportation facility, district authorities had not provided for it, as the school did not qualify under the neighbourhood norms. Rowing themselves to school by these young students might be arduous for young students, and could be potentially hazardous.
• Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) were found running in private rented building and were not having infrastructural facilities viz. separate Library Room, Computers, toilets, compound wall, playground, separate Room for teaching and living, etc. Separate hostel buildings were not available in two KGBV, three halls were used as hostel as well as for teaching purpose. In one KGBV, only one bathroom and toilet was available for 51 students and teachers.
• Mid-day-meals were prepared on firewood instead of using gas. Regular inspection of MDM centres was not done.
• Micronutrient supplementation and de-worming were not being done in any of the schools in test-checked districts under MDM scheme. Thus, the students were deprived of adequate iron and folic acid intake.
• Funds released by GoI for replacement of kitchen devices under MDM scheme were found lying unutilised and was parked with Gujarat State Financial Services Limited.
• As against the requirement of 1,022 RMSA schools (2011-13) assessed on the basis of availability of secondary schools within five kilometers surrounding area of Upper Primary Schools, only 326 schools had been established (March 2014) in the State. GoI had released funds for construction of 326 RMSA schools, however, only construction of 100 RMSA schools had been taken up.
• Funds received under RMSA for construction of teachers quarters were lying unutilised due to non-commencement of construction.

3.  Functioning of Blood Banks (Test checked 32 BBs (out of total 136 operating  in the State) in seven districts

 

• Government BBs were not available in eight out of 26 districts (31 per cent), 194 out of 224 talukas (87 per cent) and below taluka level in the State. In Narmada district, there was no BB, either in Government sector or in the Charitable/Private sector.
• Blood Storage Centres were not set-up in 83 out of 126 CHCs identified by the State Government; this might result in non-availability of timely access to safe blood and blood products as envisaged in the National Blood Policy.
• As of March 2014, 11 Government BBs, 34 Charitable BBs and nine Private BBs were functioning without renewal of License.
• The BBs in the State were not covered under network facilities till March 2014 and 0.73 lakh units of blood were discarded by all BBs in the State due to non-utilisation of the same within the specified period of 35 days.
• Quality of blood was not ensured as calibration of equipment was not done at regular intervals.
• Some BBs recovered service charges from Thalassaemia and Haemophilia patients though it was required to be supplied free of cost and some BBs recovered service charges at a rate higher than that fixed by the NACO for other patients for blood products.
• Functioning of BBs in the State was not satisfactory as adequate staff and equipment were not available.
• Instances of deficient functioning of BBs were noticed due to lack of inspection and monitoring by the State Government.
• Monitoring of Blood Donation Camps was inadequate.

 

 4.     Financial Management in Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board

 

• A decreasing trend in percentage of expenditure against the total available Plan funds which resulted in increase in closing balance from  2,553.28 crore (2009-10) to
  3,256.38 crore (2013-14).
• Eleven water supply projects taken up by GWSSB between March 2003 and June 2010 were found incomplete due to delay in completion of statutory formalities. All 91 underground drainage projects and 18 out of 21 water supply projects of Urban Development Department entrusted by the State Government to GWSSB during 2009-14 were still under execution.
• As against the increase in revenue expenditure, the revenue income did not keep pace and in absence of sufficient Non-Plan grants to meet the revenue expenditure, GWSSB had diverted  1,198.70 crore from Plan funds meant for capital projects during 2009-14 to Non-Plan for meeting the same.
• There was an operational loss of Rs. 1,301.75 crore during 2009-14. Outstanding dues of cost of raw water increased to 622.67 crore (2013-14) from 485.18 crore (2009-10).
• The income from supply of water indicated a decreasing trend which led to arrears in collection of revenue to the tune of Rs. 538.39 crore as of March 2014. Recovery of income from supply of water needs to be increased so as to meet the outstanding cost of raw water.
• Water Audit needs to be taken up to find the extent of Non-Revenue Water and minimise distribution loss on account of leakage, theft, etc.

 5.     Avoidable penalty of Rs 25.00 lakh

Lapses during investigation and non-release of confiscated vehicles though ordered by the Hon’ble High Court of Gujarat resulted in avoidable penalty of Rs. 25.00 lakh to compensate the loss suffered by the exporter for non-release of goods.

6.     Unfruitful expenditure and loss on purchase of a DG Set

Commencement of work without obtaining administrative approval from the Government for development of Gujarat National Law University campus and purchase of DG set before completion of civil works resulted in unfruitful expenditure of Rs. 1.30 crore and consequential loss of Rs. 0.61 crore.

7.     Non-recovery of cost of unlaid pipes and liquidated damages

Failure to seize the unused material brought to site and failure to renew the bank guarantee before termination of contract resulted in non-recovery of material cost of Rs. 0.90 crore and liquidated damages of Rs. 1.50 crore, besides infructuous expenditure of Rs. 10.24 crore.

  8.     Infructuous expenditure of Rs. 5.63 crore on a water supply scheme and non-achievement of objective

Injudicious decision to start construction of Elevated Storage Reservoir without acquiring the land resulted in infructuous expenditure of Rs. 5.63 crore, besides depriving the targeted beneficiaries from quality potable water.

9.     Infructuous expenditure of Rs. 5.10 crore on water supply scheme due to non-finalisation of water source

Imprudent decision to award the work of Dabhoi Water Supply Scheme without ascertaining the source of water and abandonment by the contractor due to failure to pinpoint off-take of canal by GWSSB resulted in infructuous expenditure of Rs. 5.10 crore.

10. Unfruitful expenditure due to non-completion of a Water Supply Project

Failure to complete the work by engaging a new agency after abandonment of work resulted in unfruitful expenditure of Rs. 1.90 crore and non-commencement of water supply to 16 villages.

11. Undue financial favour to the contractor

Failure of the Executive Engineer, Public Health Works Division, Dahod to recover dues from the Running Account Bills of the contractor resulted in non-recovery of Rs. 1.44 crore.

12. Idle investment of Rs. 2.69 crore

Imprudent decision of awarding contract before approval of final design of Multi-Purpose Cultural Complex resulted in idle investment of Rs. 2.69 crore.

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