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Delhi lacks basic services: CAG report-Devjyot Ghoshal and Ruchika Chitravanshi
-The Business Standard


CAG state audit report NCT has also unearthed a glaring lack of planning cutting across projects, sectors

It may be India's capital city, but behind the New Delhi's storied corridors of power and flush coffers, the metropolis is a difficult mess for the ordinary citizen.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) state audit report for the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi government has unearthed a series of significant shortcoming with basic public services in the city, and a glaring lack of planning cutting across projects and sectors.

Water Woes

Take, for instance, water and sewage management. The CAG says that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), responsible for the territory's water supply, has added only 1 MGD (million gallons per day) capacity of sewerage treatment plants, while laying about 900 km of sewer line during 2007-12 with an expenditure of Rs 1,634.18 crore.

"The DJB had not prepared any perspective plan for sewage management for XIth five year plan, and could collect and treat only 367 MGD (54%) out of 680 MGD of sewage generated in Delhi," the report said.

Furthermore, there was a lack of equitable distribution of drinking water within the NCT, the CAG said, "due to lack of reliable data on population and water supplied to different areas," and the absence of comprehensive metering of water meant that "less than 40% of water produced was billed during last three years."

Medical Nightmare

In New Delhi's hospitals, "emergency departments were not providing required services due to lack of essential equipment, medicines and adequate staff," the report said, adding that "all the test checked hospitals were lacking in facility for purified and clean drinking water."

More curiously, the CAG said that the 1000-bed Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and LN (Lok Nayak) Hospital, "have been using ambulances, mainly for miscellaneous purposes instead of for the patients", apart from the fact that these vehicles did not have "essential equipment for basic life support system".

Underlining issues at the Directorate of Health Services, the CAG reported that no construction work has started at the land sites for 10 hospitals, ranging in capacity between 60-700, that were allocated between 1997 and 2008.

Policing Problems

At Delhi Police, too, which has recently received much flak for the way it handled a string of situations, there have been issues. "Most of the funds earmarked for modernisation of Communication Branch of Delhi Police were not utilized," the CAG said, "and as such, the modernisation of communication network in Delhi Police was not achieved."

"Physical implementation of Intelligent Traffic System could not be started as of March 2012 due to deficient planning, thereby, depriving users of benefit of world class traffic system in Delhi," it added.

Taxing troubles

The CAG also pulled up the Delhi government for slow progress of work, non-finalisation of purchase proposals and less release of grants to various organisations in its audit report of state finances.

While the tax revenues of the state increased by 21% to Rs 3,494 crore, the report pointed out short payment of value added tax amounting over Rs 2,321 crore.

CAG has blamed imprudent decision making of the Delhi government in not getting the insurance cover on the basis of current valuation of assets by Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited, resulting in a loss of Rs 2.33 crore due to under insurance.

The non-tax revenue, which constituted 2.06% of total revenue receipts during 2011-12 decreased by 89% to Rs 3,728 crore over previous year, it added.

Besides, the report also mentioned that about 39% of the audited cable operators in the city failed to pay taxes for the past three years. Moreover, the state department of finance was unable to recover entertainment tax Rs 1.26 crore from 12 cinema hall owners and luxury tax amounting to Rs 9.76 crore from the hoteliers.

The auditor has criticized the department of transport for implementing the cluster bus scheme, "without a well laid out plan and concurrence of the Finance Department or Legislature." The scheme involved corporatisation of private stage carriage buses.