THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL OF INDIA ACCUSED DELHI GOVERNMENT AND OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL OF INDIA ACCUSED DELHI GOVERNMENT AND OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

In its audit report on “Commonwealth Games 2010’’ tabled in Parliament on Friday, 5TH, August, 2011, the CAG stated: “The modus operandi observed over the entire gamut of activities leading to the conduct of the Games was: inexplicable delays in decision making, which put pressure on timelines and thereby led to the creation of an artificial or consciously created sense of urgency. ‘Providing an insight into the mentality with which the OC, Delhi Government and other agencies were approaching the conduct of games, it said: “since the target date was immovable, such delays could only be overcome by seeking, and liberally granting, waivers in laid down governmental procedures. In doing so, contracting procedures became a very obvious casualty. Many contracts were then entertained based on single bids, and in fact, some of them were even awarded on nomination basis.”“Taking liberties with governmental procedures of the aforementioned kind led to elimination of competition. A conclusion from such action which seems obvious is that this could indeed have even been an intended objective! Eliminating competition led to huge avoidable extra burden on the exchequer,” the report mentions.

‘It further stated that there was a seven-year window from the award of CWG-2010 to Delhi in November 2003 to its hosting in October 2010, which was not appropriately utilised. “The time window from November 2003 to mid-2006, which could have been effectively used for planning, clearances and approvals, was wasted. The OC itself was registered only in February 2005,’’ it said. The overall planning for the Games, including the general organisation plan, the Games Master Schedule, and the operational plans for different functional areas, was also substantially delayed. So was the detailed planning for state-of-the-art city infrastructure in time for CWG-2010. “The internal control environment and decision making structures within the OC were highly inadequate. The state of documentation in the OC was so inadequate that we are unable to derive assurance as to either the authenticity or the completeness of records.”The overlays contracts were signed at exorbitant rates, causing huge financial loss to the OC and the Union Government. “Although we cannot fully quantify the true total loss (based on available records), we have, however, come up with indicators of the financial loss in different ways (by inter se comparison of item-wise rates across clusters and vendors as well as rates declared to customs,” the report said.

The chief minister of the Indian capital, Delhi, has denied allegations of wrongdoing in the awarding of commercial contracts during the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Sheila Dikshit said her government had "not done anything wrong".Reports said an independent audit had blamed Mrs Dikshit of causing loss of public money through "ill-conceived and ill-planned [Games] projects".The build-up to the Games was marred by allegations of sleaze and incompetence. The chief organiser of the Games, Suresh Kalmadi, and a number of senior officials have been arrested and accused of corruption in awarding contracts for the Games. They deny any wrongdoing. Now the Indian media is quoting the audit by Comptroller and Auditor General of India that has reportedly held Mrs Dikshit and her government responsible for undertaking "ill-conceived and ill-planned projects".The audit reportedly also blames them for selecting consultants in an "arbitrary and non-transparent manner" and executing contracts at "exorbitant" rates. Mrs Dikshit denied the allegations.

"We have not done anything wrong. Everything was done keeping in mind the national interest and prestige," she told the Press Trust of India news agency. "We were entrusted with certain responsibilities and we delivered them."Mrs Dikshit said the criticism was making her "uncomfortable", and that she would present her case when asked to.The audit report is expected to be tabled in the parliament soon. Mr Kalmadi was arrested in April "for conspiracy to cause favour to a company in Switzerland while procuring timers and scoring equipment for the Games", which were held last October. Other charges against him relate to contracts at a 2009 event in London which marked the start of a baton race across Commonwealth countries, say reports.  The row over the Games is one of a series of corruption scandals that has rocked India in recent months.

                                                         Prof. John Kurakar