Bhubaneswar: At a time when civic bodies are facing waste treatment and water-logging issues, how the state government has failed to complete sewerage projects in time despite crores of investment has been brought into sharp focus by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
The CAG, in its general and social sector report for the year ending March 2016, released recently, has pointed out, “Though the Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board (OWSSB) was established in 1991 to execute the sewerage projects in the state, projected to lay 1,567.14 km of sewer lines and sewage treatment plants (STPs) with a capacity of 379.20 MLD, along with intermediary pumping stations at an estimated cost of `4,511.48 crore, it could not achieve the same by March 2016.”
The report said that no baseline data about full cycle of sanitation was created by the Housing and Urban Development Department in the state government for any of the 110 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) based on Orissa Urban Sanitation Strategy (OUSS 201).
“Sewerage projects were taken up without preparing City Sanitation Plan (CSP) and conforming to provisions of OUSS. As a result, the draft State Plan for implementing OUSS could not be prepared,” the report said.
It further said that there were deficiencies in preparation of Detailed Project Reports in respect of Cuttack and Talcher ULBs, resulting in execution of additional work and wasteful expenditure of `95.17 lakh. As per the report, due to slow progress of work, OWSSB could utilise only `1,336.54 crore out of `2,264.29 crore, available under different schemes for the two major localities. “This resulted in loss of Central assistance of `99.83 crore,” the CAG said, adding, “Due to improper investment of unutilised funds, it had to forego interest amounting to `2.89 crore.”
A 33 MLD capacity Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), constructed in Cuttack, had been kept idle for 10 years as waste water did not flow into it. In Talcher, the construction of the other STP was delayed and the contracts were also rescinded and retendered. However, no penalty was levied on the contractor, the report said.
In respect of the Puri project, the work was awarded violating provisions of Orissa Public Works Department Code, on the grounds of urgency and the work was completed with a delay of three years and nine months, the Central Auditing agency said, adding, despite this, liquidated damage was not levied on the contractor.
In sewerage project at Bhubaneswar, the CAG said, the contractor had delayed the construction and, therefore, the same was rescinded without levy of penalty. Due to delay in execution of the project, there was cost overrun of `228.22 crore.
Moreover, it highlighted that due to delay in execution of sewerage projects in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, the intended social benefit of `592.55 crore could not be derived.
Environmental impact due to non-completion of these projects was observed in some of the upstream and downstream stretches of rivers, as the level of pollutants had not decreased in these areas, it added.
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