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Wednesday, Mar 31, 2010
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Land to Satyam: CAG raps State

Special Correspondent

21 to 29 p.c. of the Rs.1,603 cr. released under NRHM not utilised in 2005-09
‘Adequate input controls in the IT infrastructure for Indiramma scheme not provided'

HYDERABAD:The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found fault with the State government for passing on undue benefit of Rs.165 crore to erstwhile M/s Satyam Computers in allotment of 50 acres in Visakhapatnam district.

According to the CAG report for the year ended March 31, 2009, which was tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, the company was entitled to 7.5 acres at a concessional rate of Rs.10 lakh per acre whereas the government allotted 50 acres of land at that price.

As per the conditions of allotment of land for IT policy, the company selected was entitled to 0.30 acres of land for every 100 jobs created at concessional price. M/s Satyam Computers was therefore eligible to a rebate of Rs.5 crore or 7.5 acres at concessional price and the market value was payable for the remaining land.

As against the payable sum of Rs.170 crore (Rs.4 crore x 42.5 acres), the company paid a meagre amount of Rs.4.25 crore (42.5 acres x Rs. 10 lakh) towards the cost of land.

The CAG also found the Iris-based methodology adopted for issue of ration cards inappropriate.

An expenditure of Rs.106 crore was incurred on the project. In all, instances of losses/excess payments, wasteful/infructuous expenditure in various departments totalled Rs.842 crore.

The report rapped the State government for failing to utilise 21 to 29 per cent of the Rs.1,603 crore released under National Rural Health Mission during 2005-09. It said the implementation of NRHM suffered due to lack of comprehensive planning and lack of adequate monitoring mechanism.

Adequate attention was not paid to create/strengthen infrastructure facilities in health centres despite availability of funds. The report pointed to a significant shortfall in community and primary health centres in tribal areas denying access to healthcare.

The State government was rapped for not providing adequate input controls in the IT infrastructure for Indiramma housing scheme claiming that the AP Housing Corporation that procured laptops and other hardware for Rs.7.38 crore, incurring Rs. 5.34 lakh monthly maintenance expenditure, did not enter into a formal agreement with the Centre for Good Governance. The lack of adequate input control, the CAG said, resulted in disbursement of Rs. 479.55 crore to multiple beneficiaries under one ration card and another Rs. 4.15 crore to same beneficiaries under multiple IDs.

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