The chief executive officer (CEO) of the Yuba Bharati Krirangan, the hub of sports and games in West Bengal, had come under the scanner of the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) for incurring an “excess expenditure” of Rs 27.15 lakhs during the 2008-09 fiscal in procuring lamps at higher rates than the maximum retail price to improve the illumination level of the floodlights at the stadium.
The amount, included excess allowance of installation charges of Rs 0.31 lakhs. What is more startling is that although the procurement was related to replace 552 lamps out of 624 metal halide lamps at the stadium, “458 lamps were not installed as of March, 2009,” according to the audit body.
The CEO “had neither obtained competitive rates for the lamps by inviting tenders giving wide publicity nor did he place the order directly to the local branch of the lamp manufacturer, Philips Electronics India Limited. Instead the order was placed in May 2008 to Mackintosh Burn Limited (MBL), Kolkata,” the CAG has found. During the CAG’s scrutiny of records, MBL was found to have sub-contracted the work below its estimated cost of Rs 72.75 lakhs to United Works which delivered the lamps.
“Further it was found, the maximum retail price of each lamp was only Rs 8,250, much lower than the price of Rs 13,112.60 as claimed by MBL. The department thus incurred an excess expenditure of Rs 26.84 lakhs compared to the printed price by accepting the higher rates” the CAG explained.