Our Reporter
Dimapur, Aug. 5 (EMN): The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) is not adequately prepared to handle disasters in the state for want of plans and a robust organisation capable and fully equipped with manpower and equipment to deal with calamities.
This was stated in the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report which was presented at the 8th session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Thursday.
It revealed that the NSDMA was yet to set up a proper communication augmentation plan with police or paramilitary authorities besides a dedicated alert or warning system for deployment during major disasters. It also stated that the state emergency operation centre continues to operate from a rented building in Kohima since February 2017, without any video conferencing facilities.
The report stated that there has been no planning activity for disaster management in the state while the State Disaster Management Plan and the District Disaster Management Plan (2012-13) have not been approved by the state government. It said none of the state departments has prepared and submitted their disaster management plan for approval to the NSDMA.
It also stated that structural designs of buildings in the state for protection against natural disasters like earthquake and others were not enforced as the state government did not implement the Nagaland Building Bye Laws (NBBL) 2012.
NSDMA has spent INR 327 crore against available funds of INR 351.05 crore during the period 2014-19, however the unspent funds at the end of each year had not been invested as per stipulated guidelines, it stated.
The State Executive Committee (SEC) budget allocation for various activities as notified in July 2017 was not as per the NDRF guidelines of the government of India. They had further diverted funds of INR 4.46 crore out of the SDRF during 2014-19 on salaries and travel expenses, which were not permissible and violation of the guidelines, the report stated.
It mentioned that the state government had not constituted District Disaster Response Fund and Disaster Mitigation Fund for both districts and state as per Disaster Management Act, 2005, thereby impacting disaster response and mitigation activities at district level.
It stated that there were irregularities in 85 civil works executed by the NSDMA, noticed during joint physical verification by the audit, on account of doubtful works and unexecuted works and land development of private individuals in which cost involved was INR 60 crore.
The CAG report stated that failure of the DDOs and treasury officers in exercising prescribed cheques had resulted in fraudulent withdrawal of INR 5.16 crore out of which INR 4.94 were yet to be recovered, it stated. Despite this instance being pointed out in previous reports, the Finance department has failed to take corrective action.
The report stated that there were fraudulent withdrawal of INR 45 lakh by seven drawing and disbursing officers (DDO) on account of inadmissible bills of pay and allowances of existing and ghost employees, and fake treasury challans were submitted to mislead audit.
The CAG report mentioned that failure of the department to identify project sites led to delay in commencement or completion of works, resulting in cost escalation of INR 141 crore in 14 projects.
In the performance audit conducted during June to September 2019, it was found that the department didn’t ensure availability of land free from all encumbrances in four projects and delayed handing over of land, ranging from seven to 37 months in two projects, resulting in time and cost overrun of projects.
Under various central schemes, the department received funds of INR 212.92 crore but the state did not release its share of funds to the tune of INR 27.02 crore. There were delays ranging from three to 51 months in release of funds by the Finance department to the implementing departments, it stated.
It was also stated that undue financial benefit of INR 17.15 crore, as advance payment, was extended to three contractors by two executive engineers though there was no enabling payment clause in the contract deed agreement and also without citing any reason for such payment.
In 55 projects, engineering division made payment of INR 15.74 crore for works not executed, it stated. The report also stated that there were delays in completion of 119 projects executed by public works and engineering divisions. It mentioned that the delays which ranged up to 165 months from the date of issuance of work order were mainly on account of land disputes, delays in handing over of site and in release of funds to implementing agencies.
The committee stated that the state needs to improve the implementation of accessible India campaign to create a barrier-free environment in all the buildings as out of 69 major projects, provision of lift was provided only in 10 projects and provision of ramp was made in DPRs of only eight projects.
The performance audit on development of infrastructure facilities for the judiciary and e-courts project for the period 2014-2019 revealed that Annual Action Plan (AAP) for development of infrastructures submitted by the department of Justice and Law to the government of India were not based on actual requirements and included 24 inadmissible projects according to the centrally-sponsored scheme (CSS) guidelines.
The fund management for CSS revealed that the state received total funds of INR 70.05 crore against proposed funds of INR 173.02 crore for 59 projects in the AAPs, out of which INR 61.40 crore were spent on programme implementation, whereby 13 projects (four courts and nine housing units) were completed during the period 2014-19.
The report stated that the state government delayed release of its share of INR 6.68 crore in the years 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2017-18 by 10 to 14 months. The state share of INR 36 lakh was not released during 2018-19, it added.
The report stated that the department released INR 61.40 crore during 2014-15 and 2018-19 to two implementing agencies, however examinations of receipt and payment accounts revealed that they had received only INR 38.70 crore, whereby INR 16.79 crore were utilised on payment of land and buildings at Kiphire and Kohima and payments to contractors. However, funds of INR 9.75 crore remain unspent in bank account.
The court complex in Mon, on which INR 1 crore was shown to have been spent including INR 50 lakh on land purchase, remained incomplete and the site was handed over to the district administration for the functioning of customary court, it stated.
According to the report, the department submitted incorrect utilisation certificate for INR 5.91 crore without actually using the CSS funds for judicial infrastructure development in the state. Deficiencies were noticed in construction of court building at Zunheboto, whereby only 60% of work was completed since its commencement in 2012, incurring expenditure of INR 3.12 crore. In court complex Tuensang, court rooms constructed were below specification, defeating the objective of space and utility, the report mentioned.
The CAG report stated that the department carried out five non-permissible works valued at INR 2.06 crore towards maintenance of departmental guest house, construction of protection wall and boundary wall to judicial officer’s quarters in contravention to scheme guidelines.
The department also received funds of INR 8.09 crore from DoNER under NLCPR and INR 90 lakh as state share for 13 housing units for judicial officers during 2104-17. However, the divisions were given only INR 4.70 crore and balance funds of INR 3.84 crore were lying in bank accounts, against which the department issued incorrect utilisation certificate to the Centre.
The report also stated that out of the 10 housing units’ tests checked by audit, four in Kohima were completed, two housing in Zunheboto were found abandoned for no valid reason after incurring expenditure of INR 59 lakh, while housing units in Tuensang remained incomplete since 2015.
It was also revealed that solar panel works amounting to INR 9.38 lakh procured in advance for court complex Zunheboto remained unutilised due to incomplete civil works.
The audit also revealed several cases of short receipt and underutilisation of equipment and hardware, non-commencement of digitalisation of case files in the state, shortage of technical manpower, non-installation of video conferencing equipment by the four district courts, thereby resulting in non-achievement of the intended objectives of the scheme.
Despite an expenditure of INR 39.32 lakh on video conferencing equipment, the utilisation was ‘nil’ for want of internet facilities in jail, it stated.