Economic
Highlights
New Delhi, 15 October 2018
Clean Ganga Project
DELAY COST HUGE, REWORK:
CAG
By Shivaji Sarkar
“The Ganga cleaning project has cost the
nation Rs 7304 crore”, notes the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its
observations and adds the money has gone waste! The expenses were incurred, as
per NGT from 2015 to 2017, but not restricted to Ganga alone. Most such water
and river projects have not been able to achieve the desired objective.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in
its audit of national projects of Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development
and Ganga Rejuvenation from 2008 to 2017 has noted that of the 16 national
projects only five, conceptualised from 1975-83, could come under
implementation. Thus, delays are very much a part of the process, leading to
enormous cost escalation. The original cost of the five projects was Rs 3530
crore and the current cost estimates says the CAG are Rs 86,172.23 crore -- an
escalation of almost 22 times or 2341 per cent! The shortfall ranged from eight
to 99 per cent.
In February 2008, the Central government
approved a scheme of 16 major national water resource development and
irrigation projects that were languishing due to various constraints such as land
acquisition, inter-State coordination, financial constraints and issues
relating to rehabilitation and resettlement of affected persons.
The fundamental objective of the five schemes
was to ensure coordinated and focused action to expedite their execution. “The
performance audit brought out that the objective remained unachieved though an
expenditure of Rs 13,299.12 crore had been incurred till March 2017”.
The five: Indira
Sagar Polavaram (ISP) project in Andhra Pradesh, Gosikhurd irrigation project
in Maharashtra, Shahpur Khandi Dam (SKD) project in Punjab, Saryu Nahar
Pariyojana (SNP) in Uttar Pradesh and Teesta Barrage project in West Bengal, aim
at creating 25.10-lakh hectare irrigation potential. So far, a mere 5.36 lakh
hectatre (37 per cent) is being utilised and the Teesta project, with its poor implementation has led to tension between India
and Bangladesh. Power was generated of the envisaged 1236.50 mega watt.
The remaining 11 projects with an estimated
irrigation capacity of 10.48-lakh hectare are at different stages of approval
and it’s anybody’s guess how long it will take. The approval for the five
projects took 17 to 65 months -- over 12 years and the delays were due to
inaccurate survey and investigation by State agencies.
In some cases such as Goshikhurd in Maharashtra
and Bursar in Jammu and Kashmir, the cost increase was due to change in the
basic contours. While Goshikhurd had an additional cost of Rs 778 crore and
till March 2017 the Central Water Commission had not approved it, the Bursar
project was recommended by CWC in 2008 but the NHPC in 2012-13 suggested
shifting of the site to Pakal from Hanzai. The NHPC survey itself cost an
unnecessary Rs 132.17 crore.
The CAG has observed that project approvals
were complicated and rendered inaccurate due to adoption of redundant survey
and outdated price levels. This led to incorrect calculation of economic
viability of projects and both put together led to additional cost of Rs 904
crore in these cases.
The observation is indeed important and what
the NGT has noted about Ganga cleaning is too linked to such procedural
problems. The system is rigmarole and sites are changed or modifications are
made without factoring the variables. Even land acquisition in all these
projects takes too long.
In the case of the Teesta project, though the
proposal for partial land acquisition was submitted in September 2012, it could
not get West Bengal government’s approval till March 2017. And, the proposal
for 2084 hectare is yet to be forwarded by the Teesta authority. Similarly, the
process in ISP in Andhra, SKD in Punjab and SNP in UP was delayed due to
various administrative weaknesses and inability of States to reach a figure for
rehabilitation due to submergence of villages. In the ISP, the Andhra
government took five years to reject the farmers demand for cancellation of
some land acquisition and so did the SNP suffer from similar reasons.
Additionally, it was found that funds to
contractors were released beyond the agreement conditions. Various codal
provisions were also not adhered to, leading to financial costs almost in each
of the projects. But the CAG does not say if there was any corruption and
instead speaks of poor contract management and undue assistance to contractors
from public funds. Payments to them over and above the terms of agreement “was
irregular”, it observes and adds: “This amounted to financial assistance to
contractors from public funds”.
Such assistance, cost the exchequer at least
Rs 102 crore and another Rs 225 crore on cost escalation, is what is on paper. The
actual may be much more as “there is no assurance as to the transparency and
objectivity of the process of selection of contractors, award of works and
their execution”, says the CAG. The revision of agreements for relief and
rehabilitation cost Rs 1332 crore and Rs 82.35 crore in interest payments due
to delays.
Plus, there are major lacunae in monitoring
by State agencies and a shortfall in technical inspection. Say, for the Sarayu
project, excavated earth of canals was dumped in a haphazard manner resulting
in it flowing back to the canals during rains, decreasing rate of water flow by
25 to 58 per cent. In Goshikhurd, catchment area treatment necessary for safety
dam, maintenance and protection of downstream areas was neglected for eight
years. The retaining walls were constructed in a defective manner, leading to
its collapse in the middle of the canal during rains.
The CAG lays emphasis on adequate procedures
for implementation, operation and maintenance so that the infrastructure
created is safeguarded and beneficiaries are enriched. In fact, its observations
give a cue to the rest of the 11 projects and Ganga cleaning. Recall, the Namami
Ganga of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a process that was started in 1980s.
Millions of rupees have flowed down the Ganga, but it has yet not been cleaned.
The NGT observations are crucial as it also calls for investigating the issues.
The failure of the projects since 1975 is indeed
an eye opener. The Ganga cleaning project needs to be reviewed and not rushed
through in the light of the audit report. It must be reshaped to reduce delays,
costs and siphoning of funds. This is a major task but not undoable as many
nations in Europe and Southeast Asia have proven. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
New Delhi
12 October 2018
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