BHUBANESWAR: Engineers of Integrated Tribal Development Agencies (ITDAs) carried out personal transactions to the tune of Rs 148.75 crore meant for development projects in scheduled areas of the state during a five-year period from 2018-19. From payments towards insurance premiums to mobile phone recharges, the junior and assistant engineers threw all norms to the wind.
The embezzlement was flagged by Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) which placed its report in the State Assembly on Wednesday. It audited 11 of these agencies, covering the period from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
During the test check period, the state government released Rs 1,709.47 crore to the ITDAs for various welfare projects for STs of which they could spend Rs 1,190.44 crore (70 pc). Irregularities were detected in expenditure of the departmental works which were done in violation of government norms.
As per the Public Works Department of Odisha (OPWD) Code, expenditures should be incurred from the personal ledger accounts of the ITDAs, not through separate accounts opened in the names of JEs and AEs. However, in the case of these 11 ITDAs, all payments for departmentally-executed works were remitted to bank accounts of JEs and AEs, which was a major failure of internal control, the CAG pointed out.
The CAG found that the engineers were paid towards cost of execution on the basis of the running account bills, raised and prepared by them as per the cost estimates, irrespective of the actual amount of expenditure. The amount was remitted to the bank accounts opened in their names.
And from these bank accounts, the JEs and AEs carried out personal transactions of Rs 148.75 crore through ATM withdrawals, UPI transactions, payments through cheques and POS.
Payments towards insurance premiums and mobile phone recharges too, were carried from these accounts. “These were indicative of suspected misappropriation of public money by the JEs/AEs concerned,” the CAG report stated.
Invoices were not available for many of the works implemented by the ITDAs and the invoices that were available, had several irregularities like incorrect dates, numbers, absence of GST registration, etc.
“Cost estimates of 544 test-checked works were prepared without conducting site visits, preparing drawing and design and index maps. In the absence of drawing and design/plan for the departmental works, the actual deviations from the original estimates, if any, remained unverifiable,” the CAG mentioned.
Irregularities were found in procurement of input materials for the works too. The Co-operation department had in June this year withdrawn the privilege granted to the co-operative societies, such as Odisha Consumer Co-operative Federation Ltd and Regional Co-operative Marketing Society, to supply items to government offices, due to the necessity of transparency and economy in public procurement.
It had instructed that these societies had to compete with other suppliers in the tender processes. This, notwithstanding, 10 of the samples ITDAs procured input materials worth Rs 54.25 crore from the co-operative societies without tender.