Dehradun: The Comptroller and Auditor General report on reconstruction of infrastructure in the calamity-hit areas tabled in Uttarakhand Assembly on Friday cited a number of loopholes in the implementation of infrastructure post the 2013 flashfloods.
The report suggests that substantial funds meant for the reconstruction work were ‘misused’.
After the devastating disaster, which left a trail of death and devastation in the state especially in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, including the four famous shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, a package of Rs 6,250 crore was funded by the Asian Development Bank and Union government to carry out reconstruction work.
‘The package was meant only for works related to the 2013 disaster. Nevertheless, out of 525 works, 119 roads and 14 bridges were not damaged due to disaster,” CAG underlined.
The report pointed out that there was no dearth of funds but due to execution of unplanned work, overestimation, excess expenditure and deficient contract management, several tasks were affected.
It said a 2,400 km stretch of road network and 16 big bridges were affected by the tsunami. However, only 1,968 km of road was repaired or constructed and no bridge work was taken up.
Indira Hridyesh, leader of opposition in the state assembly, on Friday demanded strict action against the errant officials. Parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant assured that government will identify ‘black sheep’ and will take action against them.
Uttarakhand has witnessed three governments since 2013. The disaster also took a toll on the then chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, who was replaced with Harish Rawat. In 2017, Trivendra Singh Rawat led BJP government was voted to power, with the thumping majority riding on the failure of the Congress government.
Comments
0 comment