The Orissa department of water resources (DoWR) held by chief minister Naveen Patnaik does not have “streamlined” procedure for identification, priroitisation and selection of projects implemented under the Nabard supported rural infrastructure development (RIDF) programme, says the annual Comptroller and Auditor General Report tabled in the Assembly recently.
“The DoWR did not prepare any master-plan for flood control and management. The executive engineers proposed projects on individual need basis which are approved high power committee for submission to National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). The benefit cost ratio, an important indication gauging the economic viability of the project, was no assessed as per the norms prescribed by NABARD,” the CAG report for the year 2011-12 presented in the Assembly early this week said.
Due to selections of projects without comprehensive study of technical, economic, financial, organisational aspects and preparedness for their implementations, out 265 projects scheduled for completion by March 2012 only 41 projects (15 per cent) were completed creating irrigation potential for 1106 hectares (2 per cent).
Originally, the 265 projects were envisaged to provide irrigation to 45,165 hectares of agricultural land.
“At least 83 projects dropped midway/not commenced. The remaining 141 projects were still in projects were still in progress at various projects of execution with expenditure of `241.32 crore,” the CAG report mentioned.
Though tenders are to be finalised and agreements executed within codified validity period of 90 days, out 55 cases put to tender for `66.43 crores, bids for 14 works for `4.47 crores were finalised within 90 days and the remaining 41 bids for `61.96 crores were finalised with delays ranging from between 31 and 353 days over the prescribed 90 days, obtaining extension to the bid validity.
“Project s sanctioned by Nabard as single package were implemented unauthorisedly splitting up into sub-packages for facilitating financial of tenders at lower levels and to avoid combined evaluation of bid capacity of the bidders,” it observed.