Electricity Supply Companies (Escoms) in Karnataka delayed by 12 to 37 months completion of various works under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and awarded contracts to ineligible firms violating the prevailing rules, said The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
Quality compromised
The CAG report “DDUGJY/Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bilji Har Ghar Yojana” for the year 2022, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, noted that there was compromise in the quality of material used in electrical works.
Escoms had incurred an additional expenditure of ₹225.49 crore owing to delay in the execution of works. Delay in availability of lands and in availing clearances from forest and railways caused breach of timelines for completion of work and deferring the envisaged benefits to the beneficiaries, it said.
Escoms incurred additional expenditure of ₹26.42 crore on project management consultants due to fixation of higher fees than that stipulated under the scheme. Escoms incurred extra expenditure of ₹39.67 crore on procurement of material at higher rates over and above the Central procurement prices, the CAG said.
Contracts extended
The report said the contracts were extended without levying a penalty of ₹3 crore on the defaulting contractors in violation of the general conditions of contracts/terms of detailed work award, defeating the purpose of inclusion of penal clause in the contract to act as deterrent on non-performing contractors.
Although Escoms achieved targets under the scheme, there were cost and time overruns due to deficiencies in planning and implementation whereby the envisaged benefits had either been deferred or not been achieved in true terms, the report said.
