 "Gujarat fails to implement development work in planned manner: CAG")
The Mizoram government has incurred "wasteful expenditure" of over Rs 15 crore in the installation of the rope way cable car project from Dartlang to Chaltlang here, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said.
The CAG report said that the union tourism ministry observed that the work components consultant did not did not submit a feasibility report or mention in its DPR that the project would go through three power transmission lines.
The Rs 99.07 Aizawl-Lengpui-Hmuifang under the Eco circuit theme of Swadeshi Darshan scheme ropeway project by the union tourism ministry was started in March 2017 was to be completed in 30 months. The Dartlang-Chaltlang project was a part of it.
The Union Tourism Ministry had, however, observed in December 2019 that the work component of the ropeway was undertaken without obtaining the necessary approvals and without assessing the feasibility of the project, the CAG report said.
Moreover, the meeting between the tourism department and representatives of state power and electricity departments and Power Grid Corporation in September 2018 had agreed that the proposed ropeway project might not be feasible and might be shifted to another location from the planned one, the report said.
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The report said that to avoid any further delay to the Dartlang-Chaltlang project, which was slated to be completed in December 2018, an amount of Rs 24.83 crore was dropped from the project cost and the expenditure incurred on this component would be borne by the state government. The central tourism ministry also dropped in April 2021 all other components of the project worth Rs 31.14 crore of Durtlang area.
But the Mizoram government had already incurred an expenditure of Rs 15.09 crore during September 2017 to November 2018 for payment to contractors for the installation of cable car from Durtlang to Chaltlang in Aizawl before the Centre dropped it. This became a wasteful expenditure, the report, tabled by Chief Minister Zoramthanga in the Assembly on February 16, said.
According to the sanction order, the state government was to take all necessary clearances before undertaking the projects and set up a monitoring committee to be headed by the tourism secretary to monitor the physical and financial progress of the projects. The progress report was to be be submitted to the tourism ministry on a quarterly basis, it said.
The state government had appointed a consultant for development of the eco-adventure project in May 2017 and paid Rs 2.97 crore as consultancy charges, it said.
The case of ropeway project between Durtlang and Chaltlang and skywalk project at Sakawrhmuituaitlang near Durtlang is currently pending in the Aizawl bench of the Gauhati High Court.
An official said that a fresh investigation into the Ropeway-Skywalk scam is likely to be initiated by Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) after it has been investigated by the state's Anti Corruption Bureau.
The Congress was in power from December 2008 to November 2018.
No Congress leaders could be contacted for their comment.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
