Delhi: CAG report will make big revelations on liquor policy scam and CM residence!

New Delhi. The CAG report to be presented in the Delhi Assembly today has raised the issue of serious irregularities in the renovation of the Chief Minister’s residence at ‘6 Flag Staff Road’. Let us tell you that this is the same bungalow in which former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal used to live. The report states that in order to further expand the bungalow at 6 Flag Staff Road, the camp office and staff block were also merged into it by violating the rules.

According to the report, for the repair work of the Chief Minister’s residence at 6 Flag Staff Road, the Public Works Department (PWD) had made a budget estimate of Rs 7.91 crore by adopting the plinth area rates published by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for Type VII and VIII housing. This work was declared very important by the Delhi Public Works Department. The entire renovation work of this bungalow was completed during the Corona period.

CM bungalow built at 342% more cost than estimated

However, when the tender for this work was allotted, the cost increased to Rs 8.62 crore, which was 13.21 percent more than the estimated budget. When the renovation work of the CM residence at 6 Flag Staff Road was completed, a total of Rs 33.66 crore was spent on it, which was 342.31 percent more than the estimated cost. The audit found that the PWD did not explain the reason behind selecting three consultancy firms for consultancy work through restricted bidding.

To justify the expenses incurred in the renovation of the bungalow, the PWD adopted one-year old rates of consultancy work and increased it by 50 percent. For the renovation work, the PWD again resorted to restricted bidding and selected 5 contractors who had experience of building such bungalows in VIP areas on the basis of their financial status and resources. However, the audit found that out of the five contractors who were given the task of renovation of the CM residence, only one had experience of building such a bungalow, which shows that the other four contractors were selected arbitrarily for restricted bidding.

The area of ​​the CM residence was increased by 36 percent

The CAG audit found that the Delhi Public Works Department increased the area of ​​the bungalow from 1,397 square meters to 1,905 square meters (36 percent). And to cover the cost, the PWD revised the estimated cost four times. Apart from this, expensive and luxury items were installed in the bungalow. The PWD did not even bother to follow the tender process for the additional work done in the renovation of the bungalow apart from the estimate and work worth about Rs 25.80 crore was done by the same contractor.

According to the audit, PWD spent Rs 18.88 crore on furnishing the bungalow and installing household appliances and showed these as extra items apart from the estimated cost. The contract for renovation of the staff block/camp office was allotted for Rs 16.54 crore against the estimated cost of Rs 18.37 crore. The process of restricted bidding was adopted for this also. The reasons for allotment of work tender under restricted bidding could not be ascertained in the audit, because the records related to it were not made available to CAG.

The budget was approved, but the staff block was not built

The CAG audit found that some of the amount of Rs 19.87 crore approved for the construction of the staff block and camp office was used for other works. The staff block was not constructed at all and from the amount approved for this, seven servant quarters were constructed at some other place, which was not related to the original work. Now on 25 February, 14 pending reports of CAG will be tabled in Delhi Assembly, and many more revelations will be made.

Delhi’s new Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has clearly said that the previous governments (Aam Aadmi Party and Congress) have misused the hard-earned money of the public. The governments that have looted the hard-earned money of the public will have to give an account of every penny. The CAG report states that due to the wrong liquor policy of the Aam Aadmi Party government, Delhi had to suffer a loss of more than Rs 2000 crore. Let us tell you that during the Aam Aadmi Party government, not a single CAG report was presented in the Delhi Assembly since 2016.

What is in the CAG report on the liquor policy scam?

1- The government suffered a loss of Rs 2,026 crore due to flaws in the liquor policy.

2- Experts were consulted before making the liquor policy, but their recommendations were not accepted.

3- Companies which had complaints or were running in losses were also given licenses.

4- Approval was not taken from the Cabinet and the Lieutenant Governor i.e. LG on many major decisions.

5- The rules of the liquor policy were not even presented in the Assembly.

6- License fees of Rs 144 crore were waived in the name of Covid-19, while there was no need to do so.

7- The licenses that the government withdrew were not allocated again through the tender process, which resulted in a loss of Rs 890 crore.

8- Giving exemption to zonal license holders caused another loss of Rs 941 crore.

9- There was a loss of 27 crores due to not collecting the security deposit amount properly.

10- Liquor shops were not distributed equally everywhere.

What about Mohalla Clinics in the CAG report?

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) could spend only 9.78 crores (28 percent) out of the budget of Rs 35.16 crore allocated for the construction of Primary Health Centers (Mohalla Clinics) during 2016-23. As against the target of setting up 1000 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics by March 31, 2017, the department could set up only 523 Mohalla Clinics (March 31, 2023), including 31 evening shift Mohalla Clinics. The CAG audit found that 41 out of 218 Mohalla Clinics in four districts of Delhi remained closed for a period ranging from 15 days to 23 days in a month due to lack of doctors and staff being on leave.

Basic medical equipment such as pulse oximeter, glucometer, X-ray viewer, thermometer, BP monitoring machine etc. were found lacking in Mohalla clinics. During the review, 74 Mohalla clinics were found in which 100% availability of 165 medicines included in the list of essential medicines was not ensured. At the same time, during the period from October 2022 to March 2023, 70 percent of the patients visiting Mohalla clinics got medical consultation for less than a minute. The audit states that transparency was also not maintained in the inspection of Mohalla clinics. Only 2 percent of Mohalla clinics were inspected in four selected districts during March 2018 to March 2023. All Mohalla clinics lacked staff like doctors, public health nursing officers, mid-wives (ANMs) and pharmacists.