BENGALURU: In nearly 50 per cent of cases, 108 ambulances did not ferry accident and medical emergency patients to hospitals within the first one hour, revealed the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report for 2014 to 2019. The report, tabled in the Assembly on Wednesday, said the Arogya Kavacha ambulance service, which needs to respond within 10 minutes in serious cases, could reach the spot only by 30 minutes in 72 per cent of the cases, so ten minutes is still a tall order.
“What is worse is that 20 per cent of vacancies in posts of ambulance drivers and emergency management technicians were not filled in time, leading to ambulances remaining off-road for 41,342 days during the audit period,” it stated. The report said suspected fraudulent payments cost the exchequer Rs 2,800 crore. Against an outlay of Rs 7.2 lakh crore, the application of resources was a mere Rs 4.7 lakh crore.
It stated that an assistant revenue officer’s inaction led to a loss of Rs 6.76 crore in property tax to BBMP. The Palike adopted incorrect rates for a roadside drain, causing a loss of Rs 1.09 crore. BDA fraudulently allowed contractors to benefit by about Rs 1.9 crore. The Director of Koppal Institute of Medical Sciences issued cheques of Rs 64 lakh for purchasing equipment which were never delivered. Equipment worth Rs 98 lakh in ICUs were not functional in district and taluk hospitals. BBMP wrongly computed royalty, resulting in a loss of Rs 2.15 crore. The Karnataka Slum Development Board withdrew its fixed deposits causing a Rs 1.2 crore loss.
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
Errors in estimates by Karnataka State Highway Development Project resulted in loss of Rs 3.9 cr to the govt; wrong decisions caused loss of Rs 6.6 cr
Mandatory cesses amounting to Rs 61.84 crore were not collected, in some cases, they were incorrectly credited, amounting to about Rs 60 crore
Rs17.5 cr wasteful expenditure incurred due to Belavadi-Doddakere feeder canal
Mines & Geology dept didn’t collect Rs 6.47 cr royalty from quarry leaseholders
Commercial taxes dept did not levy stipulated penalty, causing loss of Rs 29 cr
Excise dept collected less tax from 104 bars, leading to loss of Rs 17.16 cr; Dept did not devise plan to deal with refunds amounting to Rs 2,536 cr under KVAT
Commercial taxes dept did not take action on non-payment of tax amounting to Rs 15 cr; Rs 13.49 cr tax
was short-levied