Jammu, April 7
Several crores of rupees were misutilised in Jammu and Kashmir under security-related expenses (SRE) resulting in heavy losses to the central exchequer between 1996 and 2001.
According to the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, which was laid on the table of the state legislature here yesterday, as a result of the misutilisation of funds under the SRE, the Central Government had to make an excess reimbursement to the tune of Rs 41.58 crore between 1996 and 2001.
The report points out that between 1996 and 2001 the actual expenditure on various SRE activities was to the tune of Rs 31.70 crore when the reported expenditure was shown to be Rs 81.50 crore.
Out of the test-checked expenditure of Rs 71.18 crore incurred by the police and the Prisons Department during 1996-2001, Rs 42.38 crore was misutilised on items and activities outside the purview and the scope of the SRE.
The misutilised amount included Rs 2.32 crore spent on items, including wall-to-wall carpets, colour television sets, geysers, airconditioners, refrigerators and costly fixtures.
The report found irregular and unadmissible expenditure on civil works executed by the Estates Department which resulted in a loss of several crores.
A sizeable amount of money was spent on buildings allotted to ministers, senior government officers, journalists and former legislators.
Several works were carried out without seeking the approval of the SRE standing committee set up by the Government of India. The Estates Department executed various civil works without administrative approval and technical sanction and these works in Jammu were taken in hand on receipts when tenders should have been floated.
In case of hiring hotels, guest houses and residence of private parties for providing accommodation to the security forces, a lack of coordination among various government agencies and non-maintenance of proper records resulted in excess and irregular payment to the tune of Rs 7.31 crore in 12 of the 20 test-checked cases.
The state authorities failed to contest the case filed by hotel owners in the High Court against the government decision to reduce the rent of the rooms for the security forces. The court gave an ex-parte verdict in favour of the hotel owners as a caravan of government lawyers did not appear in the court.
In several cases rent was paid to the owners of hotels and guest houses for periods of non-occupation by the forces. This resulted in loss of several crores to the central exchequer.
The state agencies did not utilise funds released by the Centre for construction of pre-fabricated sheds for the security forces. In certain cases, the directions for vacating costly hotel buildings were not adhered to, thereby causing heavy losses to the central
exchequer.On the matter of civic activities to be carried out by the security forces to bridge the gap between border people and the government and in arms procurement programme, the state agencies did not fully utilise the allotted funds.
One police agency spent part of the funds and the rest remained locked in the current account of a bank.
Weapons valued at over Rs 1.58 crore were not lifted from manufacturers, despite payment in advance.
In purchases of arms, executing civil works and distribution of relief to migrants, the agencies did not maintained proper records. The audit teams as such have not been able to assess the extent of misuse of funds under the SRE. A sum of Rs 8.95 crore was spent on upgrading jail security but the audit teams could not verify whether civil works were executed or which works were in progress because no proper records were maintained by the jail
authorities.
