It isn’t just the politicians and government departments who allegedly raked in the money from the 2011 Delhi Commonwealth Games. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said even PSUs appointed by the government made “exorbitant profits” during the CWG.
The CAG report, expected to be tabled in Parliament Friday, says the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), a PSU “nominated” by the government to provide an integrated security system (ISS) for the Games, “made an exorbitant profit of `126 crores”. “Such exorbitant profits by a PSU appointed on nomination basis by the government amounts to a breach of trust,” it says. The CAG says, “ECIL prepared a highly inflated cost estimate (approved at `346 crore) which allowed it to make an exorbitant profit of `126 crore on just the procured items.” The report observes that the decision to provide ISS through ECIL on “nomination basis” was taken by the Cabinet on May 8, 2009. The security arrangements were coordinated by the home ministry.
The CAG also blamed the Haryana government for improper utilisation of funds released by the MHA under the modernisation of police forces scheme for security arrangements during the Games. “The Kadarpur Shooting Range in Gurgaon, Haryana, was one of the main competition venues for CWG-2010. The MHA released a special grant of `23.23 crore under the MPF scheme to the Haryana government in February 2010. We found that although `21.96 crore had been drawn from the treasury during July-October 2010 and deposited with the executing agencies, no equipment had been received as of November 2010 even after the CWG was over,” it said. It noted that 39 fabricated police assistance booths were procured by the Haryana police department but these were not handed over to the Gurgaon and Faridabad traffic police in time for the Games.