The CAG in two annual reports (2008-9 and 2009-10) has saidthat the Public Works Department had flouted a number of financial processesand the money was never returned back nor accounted for.
The reports said that the PWD did not credit to theGovernment account, security deposits to the tune of Rs, 12.11 crores that waslying with it.
As per para 15.4.1 of the CPWD Account Code, security deposits remaining unclaimed for morethan three complete years after theybecome due for payment are to be treated as lapsed deposits and credited to Governmentaccount. CAG Audit revealed thatsecurity deposits for 2,826 works, which were lying unclaimed for more than three years, were not credited to the Government account as lapsed deposits.Where the money is, was never investigated by the previous government.
Meanwhile the CAG Report of 2009-10 reveals that of PWD’s970 Earnest Money Deposits (EMDs) to the tune of almost Rs 2.37 crores wasnever paid back to the contractors. Ponda based contractor Vishwas Harmalkar committed suicide fornon-payment of bills and constant harassment but the condition was not anydifferent for most or all of the contractors empanelled with PWD . As per para 18.5.1 of the CPWD Works Manual, earnest money deposits (EMD) of all the bidders except the lowest bidder should be refunded immediately onopening of a tender or latest within a week from the date of receipt of tenders.
The reports also said that the department clubbed the majorchunk of its expenditure in the last month of the financial year. In 2009-10,27 percent of the total expenditure of PWD happened in the month of March2010. The previous year (2008-09) hadwitnessed 31 percent of the annual expenditure being made in March 2009, Theprevious year almost half of the annual expenditure incurred by PWD in 2008. Asper General Financial Rules, 2005, rush of expenditure, particularly in theclosing month of the financial year is to be regarded as breach of financialpropriety. The PWD kept on doing it again and again and Goa Govt turned a blindeye to this irregularity.
