HYDERABAD: The cost of the BRS government's prestigious Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) is now likely to exceed Rs 1.47 lakh crore as against the previous estimated cost of Rs 81,000 crore, said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
The 'Performance audit on Kaleshwaram Project' was tabled in the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
The CAG found that the State government has not accorded administrative approval of the project as a whole and instead it has issued separate approvals i.e. as many as 73 administrative approvals aggregating to Rs 1.1 lakh crore.
There are no orders from the government about the funding pattern for the project.
Out of the total expenditure of Rs 86,788.06 crore incurred on the project (March 2022), an expenditure of Rs 55,807.86 crore (i.e., 64.3 per cent) was met from the off-budget borrowings (OBBs) raised by Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project Corporation Limited.
The CAG report said that the Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) of the project was inflated. Even with the estimated project cost of Rs 81 thousand crore, BCR works out to 0.75.
Considering the latest likely project cost (Rs 1,47,427.41 crore), the BCR worksout to 0.52.
This means that every rupee spent on the project would yield only 52 paise. It indicates that the project was, ab initio, economically unviable.
The peak energy demand, when all the pumps are operated, is more than the average daily energy availed in the entire state (2021-22).
The other findings in the CAG report on Kaleshwaram are:
* Providing power tolift irrigation schemes will pose a challenge to the State. The absence of a comprehensive plan duly spelling out the sources of funds fora project of this scale, which will have a long term impact on the finances of the state, is an indication of improper planning.
* Against targeted new CA of 18.26 lakh acres, the works entrusted so far (March2022) included development of distributary network for only 14.83 lakh acres.The actual command area created so far was 40,000 acres only (March 2022). The Department showed undue haste in award of works. Seventeen works costing Rs 25 thousand crore were awarded even before approval of the DPR.
* In the DPR, water for the project was proposed to be lifted from River Godavariat the rate of 2 TMC per day. The pumping capacity was later increased to 3TMC per day involving an additional cost of ₹28,151 crore. * Due to re-engineering of the PCSS Project and changes made in the project, certain portions of works already executed had become redundant, resulting in a loss of Rs 750 crore.
*Out of the 56 project works, only 12 works were completed, 40 works wereongoing while 4 works have not even commenced, as of March 2022. Lands required for the distributary network, etc., are yet to be fully identified.
* The possibility of undue benefit of at least Rs 2,600 crore to the contractors for supply and commissioning of pumps, motors etc., cannot be ruled out. Further,post tender inclusion of price adjustment clause resulted in an avoidable payment of Rs 1,000 crore.
BURDEN ON EXCHEQUER: The government's decision to waive off thewater charges for the welfare of the public, the subsidy amount would be paid to the concerned Department.
The reply confirms the audit observation that the revenue from drinking water supply from the project would be less than that projected in the DPRand when subsidy is paid to compensate this, there would be an additional cost to the public exchequer.
2BHK HOUSES: The CAG pointed out that the funds allocated to 2BHK housing scheme, launched in 2015, were diverted to other schemes.
"The financial management of the scheme had shortfalls. Loan amounts drawn were kept idle/parked for some time, funds were diverted to other schemes/institutions and Telangana State Housing Corporation Limited (TSHCL) had to repay other loans not related to the 2BHK Housing Scheme," the CAG said.
In Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Area, out of one lakh houses sanctioned in GHMC, construction of 48,178 (48 per cent) houses were completed and 45,735 houses were in progress while 6,087 houses were stopped/yet to be taken up.
Construction of houses by the end of six years (2020-21) was only 48,178 which was less than 50 per cent of the envisaged target of one lakh. Ninety-six per cent of the completed houses (46,442) remained unoccupied for a period ranging from less than 6 to more than 36 months, as the state government failed to identify beneficiaries for the scheme rendering the expenditure of Rs 3,983.68 crore incurred on these houses so far wasteful. Thus, the objective of providing two-bedroom houses to the poor as envisaged could not be achieved, even after four years.
Sheep rearing: The Audit found serious irregularities including suspected fraud/doubtful transactions involving financial implications of ₹253.93 crore. These included paymentsmade on manipulated transport invoices (₹68.23 crores) for transportation of sheep and invoices containing fake/passenger/non-goods vehicles (₹27.20 crore); cases where more than two sheep units were shown as transported in small goods vehicles and tractors(₹17.06 crore) and more than six sheep units were shown as transported in heavy goods vehicles (₹46.03 crores); assigning of duplicate ear tags to multiple sheep (₹92.69 crores),etc.