Itanagar, a performance audit conducted by CAG on ‘Tourism Infrastructure Development in Arunachal Pradesh’ found major deficiencies in planning, implementation and monitoring of tourism projects in the state, including wasteful spending, diversion of funds, awarding work to unqualified contractors and several non-functional assets.
The review, covering the period from 2017-18 to 2021-22 and presented to the assembly on March 10 by Deputy Prime Minister Chuna Min, also pointed out serious lapses such as the inadequate tourism policy framework, implementation of allocated projects, and lack of proper monitoring mechanisms.
The report said that despite the 2003 State Tourism Policy, which focused on preparing a comprehensive master plan, the state government had not taken any steps to develop high-potential tourism areas.
As a result, the Tourism Department implemented projects on an ad hoc basis without conducting feasibility studies at the ground level.
The audit also found that in six projects, project locations were moved from approved locations without obtaining approval from the Federal Ministry of Tourism, the sanctioning authority.
In another case, the tourism director pointed out $6.17 lakh crore from government accounts between February 2019 and March 2022 and the money was kept in demand drafts for periods ranging from six months to nearly five years.
The audit observed that the funds were withdrawn without immediate condition to avoid lapse of budget grants, violating Rule 100 of the Central Government Accounts Rules, 1983.
The report also highlighted that 14 projects implemented under the Planning and Investment Division of the Ministry of Development were abandoned after incurring significant expenses.
Three projects were abandoned after spending between 63 to 94 percent of the agreement value, while the remaining 11 projects were stopped after spending between 10 to 43.86 percent.
Since the incomplete projects were not taken up under Swadesh Darshan Scheme and were not completed by the state government, the total expenditure $The report said that the amount of Rs 14.01 crore incurred on them was a waste.
During joint physical inspections, the audit discovered that payments amounted to… $Rs 8.16 lakh crore has been allocated for components which were not implemented despite being recorded as completed in the measurement books.
The report indicated that these payments were not only irregular, but could be fraudulent and require a detailed investigation.
The audit body also found that 41 tourism assets were created at cost $87.92 lakh crore during the review period remained non-operational and dormant for periods ranging from seven months to 109 months as on March 31, 2023.
The CAG recommended that the Ministry of Tourism ensure recovery of short deductions of statutory dues from the companies concerned and impose appropriate sanctions on the withdrawal and disbursement officer responsible.
It also advised the administration to take the necessary steps to revive and complete abandoned projects and ensure that the assets created are used after their completion.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
