Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India General and Social
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Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on General and Social Sector for the year ended March 2019 लोकहितार्थ स配यहिष्ठा Dedicated to Truth in Public Interest Government of Tamil Nadu Report No. 4 of 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on General and Social Sector for the year ended March 2019 Government of Tamil Nadu Report No. 4 of 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS Paragraph Page Preface (v) Overview (vii) CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION About this Report 1.1 1 Profile of Audited Entities 1.2 1 Authority for Audit 1.3 2 Planning and conduct of Audit 1.4 3 Response to Audit 1.5 3 Recommendations 1.6 4 Follow-up on Audit Reports 1.7 4 CHAPTER II - PERFORMANCE AUDIT MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION AND WATER SUPPLY DEPARTMENT Sewage Management in Chennai Metropolitan Area 2.1 5 CHAPTER III - COMPLIANCE AUDIT HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT Compliance Audit on implementation of Chief Minister’s 3.1 39 Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION AND WATER SUPPLY DEPARTMENT Compliance Audit on solid waste management in 3.2 53 Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation i Audit Report (General and Social Sector), Tamil Nadu for the year ended March 2019 Paragraph Page Fraudulent claims/payments 3.3 MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION AND WATER SUPPLY DEPARTMENT NATHAM TOWN PANCHAYAT Failure to disallow fraudulent claims made by contractor for 3.3.1 64 construction of OHT Avoidable/Unfruitful expenditure 3.4 HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE AND SCHOOL EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS Avoidable payment of electricity charges 3.4.1 65 HOME, PROHIBITION AND EXCISE DEPARTMENT Unfruitful expenditure in installation of CCTV system 3.4.2 68 MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION AND WATER SUPPLY DEPARTMENT CHIDAMBARAM, JAYANKONDAM AND KODAIKANAL MUNICIPALITIES Unfruitful expenditure due to non-utilisation of machinery 3.4.3 71 SCHOOL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Avoidable expenditure in printing and re-printing of free 3.4.4 74 textbooks Unfruitful expenditure on high tech systems of Anna 3.4.5 77 Centenary Library SOCIAL WELFARE AND NUTRITIOUS MEAL PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT Implementation of the scheme for Working Women Hostels 3.4.6 80 Loss/Short collection of revenue 3.5 MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION AND WATER SUPPLY DEPARTMENT THANJAVUR CITY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION Loss of revenue on lease of bus entry fee collection 3.5.1 84 ii Table of Contents Paragraph Page REVENUE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT Short collection of revenue due to non-revision of lease rent 3.5.2 86 Undue favour to contractor 3.6 MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION AND WATER SUPPLY DEPARTMENT GREATER CHENNAI CORPORATION Injudicious award of contracts 3.6.1 88 MAYILADUTHURAI MUNICIPALITY Excess expenditure due to extension of contract 3.6.2 91 Blocking of funds/Idle investments 3.7 HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT Injudicious and excessive procurement of drugs 3.7.1 94 Improper planning leading to idling of three 3.7.2 98 multi-storeyed buildings at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital HOME, PROHIBITION & EXCISE AND REVENUE & DISASTER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENTS Money kept outside the Government account 3.7.3 100 Regularity issues and others 3.8 SOCIAL WELFARE AND NUTRITIOUS MEAL PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT Encroachment of Government land 3.8.1 103 iii Audit Report (General and Social Sector), Tamil Nadu for the year ended March 2019 APPENDICES Appendix Details Page No. No. 1.1 Department-wise details of outstanding Inspection Reports 107 and Paragraphs 2.1 Organisation chart of CMWSSB 108 2.2 Sampled field units 109 2.3 Status of ongoing UGSS projects 110 2.4 Features and stages of UGSS in other areas of CMA 111 2.5 Cost escalation in UGSS projects due to undue delays in 113 completion 2.6 Estimated sewage generated and untreated due to delay 114 in completion of UGSS projects 2.7 Plugging of sewage outfalls under Phase II 115 2.8 Details of STPs 116 3.1 Details of lifts installed in ACL, Chennai 117 3.2 Details of inmates in 20 WWHs sanctioned during 2013-14 118 3.3 Details of construction of WWHs 119 3.4 Details of manpower appointed (As of July 2019) 121 3.5 Details of non-realisation of revenue due to non-revision of 122 lease rent 3.6 Items of work agreed at abnormally low rates ignored during 123 execution 3.7 Items of work agreed at abnormally low rates partly 124 executed 3.8 Items of works executed in excess of the agreed quantities 125 3.9 List of sampled ESIDs under RAMO, Madurai 126 3.10 List of drugs supplied to sampled ESIDs despite 127 non-indenting 3.11 Status of pending works at RGGGH, Chennai (As of 128 December 2019) 3.12 Estimated loss of interest revenue due to non-investment of 129 the SDRF balance in Government Securities as per SDRF guidelines Glossary of abbreviations 130 iv PREFACE This Report for the year ended March 2019 has been prepared for submission to the Governor of Tamil Nadu under Article 151 of the Constitution of India. The Report contains significant results of the Performance Audit and Compliance Audit of the departments of the Government of Tamil Nadu under the General and Social Services including departments of Health & Family Welfare, Home, Prohibition & Excise, Municipal Administration & Water Supply, Revenue & Disaster Management, School Education and Social Welfare & Nutritious Meal Programme. The instances mentioned in this Report are those, which came to notice in the course of test audit for the period 2018-19 as well as those which came to notice in earlier years but could not be reported in the previous Audit Reports; instances relating to the period subsequent to 2018-19 have also been included, wherever necessary. The audit has been conducted in conformity with the Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. v OVERVIEW OVERVIEW This Report contains one Performance Audit on Sewage Management in Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), Compliance Audit on two schemes/programmes viz., ‘Implementation of Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme’ and ‘Solid Waste Management in Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation’ and 15 compliance audit paragraphs. PERFORMANCE AUDIT ON ‘SEWAGE MANAGEMENT IN CHENNAI METROPOLITAN AREA’ Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) is the agency responsible for sewage management in Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) areas and also the nodal agency for sewage management in other local bodies within CMA. Sewage management includes construction, operation and maintenance of sewer lines, Sewage Pumping Stations, Sewage Treatment Plants, etc., and also includes septage handling in unsewered areas. Government made substantial investment in the expansion of the sewerage system in Chennai Metropolitan Area. Slow pace of project implementation and lack of comprehensive planning would adversely compact the prospect of achieving 100 per cent safe disposal of sewage in the near future. As of March 2019, only 52 per cent of the sewage generated in CMA was collected by the existing sewerage system, leaving the remaining 48 per cent uncollected. Further, only 88 per cent of the collected sewage was treated before being let out. (Paragraph 2.1.6) Underground Sewerage System (UGSS) is provided in the entire erstwhile Chennai Corporation areas. But, UGSS were not provided in 31 out of the 42 areas newly added to the city in 2009, seven out of the eight municipal towns, 10 of the 11 Town Panchayats and all the 10 Panchayat Unions. (Paragraph 2.1.8) The prospect of achieving the goal set in National Urban Sanitation Policy and Tamil Nadu Vision 2023 for 100 per cent safe disposal of sewage was bleak. Deficient planning, lack of coordination with line departments, unjustified delays in tender approval and issues in contract management caused abnormal delays in completion of projects underway for expansion of sewer networks. (Paragraph 2.1.8.2) An estimated 242.73 million liter per day (mld) of raw sewage illegally entered storm water drains and drained into water bodies such as Adyar river, Buckingham Canal, Cooum river, etc. This had resulted in high pollution load of the water bodies in CMA. Projects sanctioned to address this issue had limited success. (Paragraph 2.1.10) vii Audit Report (General and Social Sector), Tamil Nadu for the year ended March 2019 Inadequate treatment capacity of sewage treatment plants (STP), non-functioning of primary clarifier units in two STPs and deficiencies in testing of treated water had adverse impact on the quality of sewage treatment. (Paragraph 2.1.11) The achievement in recycling and reusing treated water was only 6.5 per cent of the sewage generated against the prescribed benchmark of 20 per cent. (Paragraph 2.1.12) Five STPs without biogas power generation plant and three in which the plants were non-functional released an estimated 5.7 million cubic metre of environmentally dangerous methane gas per annum into atmosphere and simultaneously CMWSSB lost an opportunity to save on electricity bills. (Paragraph 2.1.13) Audit observations on Compliance Audit We observed several deficiencies in critical areas, which had adverse impact on effective functioning of Government departments/organisations. Key audit findings of compliance issues are as under: Compliance Audit on ‘Implementation of Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme’ An audit of ‘Implementation of Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme’ revealed that there was no mechanism for verification/periodic updation of family income and exclusion of ineligible families. Marginalised categories like orphans, migrant workers and Sri Lankan refugees were not adequately enrolled as a suitable system was not put in place. Quality of medical care could not be fully ensured due to non-insisting of the mandatory NABH accreditation. Instances of delayed pre-authorisation showed an increasing trend leading to delay and possible denial of treatment to needy patients.