Karnataka   

Lokayukta moots social auditing

MANGALORE: The example of local people effectively supervising the construction of a nine-kilometre road leading to a tribal settlement in Heggadadevankote taluk in Mysore district has enthused Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde to recommend this for all works taken up by the urban local bodies.

The project was taken up by the Cauvery Jal Nigam.

The idea of “social auditing” could be extended to works in the health sector, he said.

In an informal chat with The Hindu on the sidelines of a function here on Tuesday, Mr. Hegde said while the government engineers could supervise the works, people of the area could be trained in this aspect. The proposed idea of social auditing could involve respected people of the area.

Observing that official auditing tended to be mechanical and restricted to inspection of vouchers and bills or other official documents, Mr. Hegde said people would be the best judges of whether gravel, bitumen or any other material had been used as specified.

The Heggadadevankote experiment had proved that it could work.

Admitting that possible pitfalls could be that the people chosen for the audit process could be biased, Mr. Hegde said yet it was worth trying.

“It is my opinion that involving people in supervising works in their areas would increase responsibility, bring in greater accountability among officers and agencies involved in the work,” he said.

Under this idea, contractor/agencies would be required to display full project details, such as year of sanction, cost involved and their name and address at the work site for people to know and cross check, if needed.

Mr. Hegde said a similar idea was tried out in Bangalore with limited success in the recent past. This idea would be implemented in health projects, including purchase of medicines and equipment, he added.

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