CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Construction Workers Welfare Board has been accused of violating the Supreme Court directions and scheme guidelines by diverting Rs 44.24 crore from Manual Workers General Welfare Fund.
A scrutiny of records (between September 2016 and September 2017) carried out by CAG found that the fund was used for construction of integrated labour office complexes in ten districts until May 2018. Works have been in progress in the remaining districts.
“The decision of the State government and the Welfare Board to utilise the funds, amounted to violation of the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers Act 1982 and a SC judgement,” the report said.
Road Fatalities
The CAG report has blamed the transport, highways and police departments for road fatalities in the States. Poor enforcement of the motor vehicle regulations, lapses in licence tests, insufficient allocation of funds to repair black spots on highways were cited by CAG report
77% Road accidents due to rash and negligent driving, indicating drivers were not tested adequately
60-65% Driving licence applicants passed driving tests in automated testing tracks from June to November 2018, as against 93-96% during manual inspection
30 secs/test: During the field verification at Meenambakkam and Tambaram RTOs, it was found that authorities took 29.06 minutes to test 57 candidates for two-wheeler licences, which work out to an average of 30 seconds per test
Rs 1,130 cr: In 2014, the Chief Engineer, Highways Department prepared comprehensive proposal to correct black spots in roads at cost of Rs 1130 crore and government decided to execute works with Rs 900 cr. During 2014-18, the government released Rs 756.22 crore, however Rs 457.56 crore was utilized
Rs 946.19 cr: Collected towards compounding fees and spot fines during 2013-18, but only Rs 325 crore (34%) provided for Road Safety Fund, of which only Rs 165.37 cr used
TEXT: Anbuselvan B