BENGALURU: A Rs 8.7-crore bridge sits unused near Karwar in Uttara Kannada district, simply because there are no access roads leading to it or away, connecting it to any roads. The bridge is meant to link Siddarnayawad village to Umblejoog village, and was completed in January 2022. The CAG found it non-operational.
A CAG compliance audit for the year ending March 2024 has flagged serious lapses in how a public works department planned and executed road and bridge projects, pointing to inflated cost estimates and poor use of existing materials.
It found the department had failed in proper road planning through Planning and Road Asset Management Centre (PRAMC) while preparing project estimates, did not cut costs by reusing material like excavated soil, wet mix macadam and granular sub-base already in hand.
Auditors also flagged inaccurate embankment calculations, excessive tender premiums, and departures from Indian Road Congress and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) design standards, that pushed up costs.
Errors in the Schedule of Rates, including wrong conversion factors, further inflated estimates, potentially benefiting contractors at public expense. Cost-saving alternatives such as cement-treated sub-base, reclaimed asphalt pavement and plastic-based bitumen roads were never explored, the report noted.
The report describes the bridge project as an example of “disconnected planning”. Despite Rs 8.7crore being spent, the bridge remains non-functional because the approach roads connecting it were never built — and land acquisition for those roads had not even begun at the time of the audit. Auditors labelled the spend “unfruitful expenditure”, attributing it to poor project sequencing: the bridge went up before the land needed to reach it was secured.
The department defended the decision, telling auditors that landowners had consented to the project during an initial survey and land acquisition was under way, with approach road construction to follow. Auditors recommended that the government press the department to expedite land acquisition, and for future projects, confirm land availability before starting construction.
In another case, the CAG blamed the authorities for construction of a queue complex behind Male Mahadeshwara temple at MM Hills, pointing out that work was awarded in April 2021 to Damodar Raju for Rs 18.7crore, but with no mention of completion period.
The CAG found the government reply untenable -- it said they had resorted to manual chiselling to prevent damage. They also pulled up the authorities over improvements on the state highway to Hulsur in Aland. The CAG said the government has to recover excess payment made and blamed the government, alleging a delay in finalization resulted in avoidable liability of Rs 5crore.