YEH MERA INDIA
CAG raps MEA for Paris project
New Delhi: Rapping the Ministry of External Affairs for delaying work in Indian Chancery in Paris, the Comptroller and Auditor General said it has blocked capital of Rs 18 crore for the past five years apart from the Mission incurring a recurring liability of Rs 26 lakh per year. “Delay in implementation of project has blocked the capital of 18 crore on purchase of new building which has been lying unused since 2006. The mission has also been forced to incur a recurring liability of Rs 26 lakh per annum on rent of the Space Wing which was envisaged to be relocated in the new building after renovation”, the CAG said in its report. Despite audit findings reported earlier and assurances given by the Ministry of Public Accounts Committee, it was noticed during audit of the Mission at Paris that it took more than four years to complete the formalities in awarding the contract for renovation work, it said.
Agent helped locals steal power
Thane: A power theft racket was busted by the officials of MSEDCL who found to their horror that an agent helped locals to steal power. It recovered Rs. 7 lakh and took action against 14 people. According to sources, the Bhandup division o MSEDC took action after the officials learnt that Navdurga apartment on Ghodbunder Road indulged in power theft with the help of an agent. Officials claim that Manjit Singh Arora, who pretends himself as agent for MSEDC, had visited their Patlipada office and threatened the staff, “With the help of Arora they continued to get the power supply by illegal means. As per MSEDC officials, the entire matter came to light when the Kolshet division came to know about this theft and therefore sent a letter informing dues of Rs 3.78 lakh to the locals. Their overdues increased to Rs 7.45 lakh and accordingly, we took action against them,” the locals said. However the officials claim that the locals failed to pay the dues and hence their connection was discontinued.
No hospital, but Rs 25 lakh already spent
The government’s auditor has lambasted the Public Works Department (PWD) for its wasteful expenditure of Rs 25.62 lakh on a hospital project in Dwaraka which did not take off even 14 years after its conception. What’s more shocking, the civic agency has blocked funds worth Rs 14.2 crore on the project.
Last month, PWD came under CAG’s fire over irregularities in several infrastructure projects linked to the Commonwealth Games.
On the last day of the monsoon session, the CAG report for March 2010 was tabled in the House. The report mentions lapses in several projects and blasts the agency for lack of proper planning, delays and mismanagement of funds.
The reporters states that due to inadequate planning, the project to construct a hospital at Dwaraka conceived 14 years back could not materialize even after incurring funds to tune of Rs 14.62 lakh. The government is still not clear whether the project will be implemented by PWD or by public-private partnership.
In another case involving construction of an orthopedic block at LNJP Hospital, the report cites irregularities by PWD awarding of contracts. This led to wasteful expenditure of Rs 5.15 crore, which was paid to two other agencies. In addition, an interest of Rs 26.57 lakh was paid by PWD.
This not only bled the coffers, but also prolonged the scheduled completion of the hospital building which was scheduled to be completed by July 2010. Instead, it was only handed over in December 2010, resulting in denial of healthcare.
In another case, the auditor mentions irregular awarding of contract leading to excess expenditure of Rs. 1.27 crore.
“PWD awarded the work to a contractor over and above 10% of justified cost, in violation of the provisions of CPWD. This resulted in undue benefit of Rs 1.27 crore to the contractor,” the CAG report says.
Politics of liquor trade
Mumbai: It’s not just politicians from the cow belt dominating the liquor trade in Mumbai. A former railway employee is learnt to own some 27 retail liquor shops in the city.
The man, who 15 years ago, smuggled liquor from Daman to Maumbai by train while on duty, sold it to specific retail shops and is supposedly close to a powerful politician from Vidarbha.
In fact, this politician has also bailed out former railway employee when a truckload of liquor was seized at the Dahisar check naka while being smuggled into the city from Daman some 5 years ago.
His political clout gave him immunity against penal action, according to a state excise official. The excise official disclosed that a large amount of liquor is smuggled into the city from Daman through road and is offloaded into the retail outlets and godowns owned by this ex-railway official, which are located in various parts of the city. There is a strong suspicion that politicians are laundering tainted money in the liquor trade through this ex-railway employee who wields considerable clout in the retail liquor business in Mumbai.
Also, politicians from the cow belt of India who are believed to have taken over nearly around 50% of the liquor trade in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, in the last 10 years, are threatening to take over nearly 90 per cent of the trade in these cities. While one of the politicians is from Uttar Pradesh, another is from Bihar. Interestingly, though both the politicians who are currently in the opposition in their respective state, they reportedly enjoy a close rapport with powerful politicians control approximately 80% of the liquor distributorship trade and 50% of the retail business in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
Currently, about 80 licences have been purchased in Mumbai and its neighbouring towns by the front company managed by the UP politician’s close aide who originally hails from Etawah and 40% licences by the front company floated by the Bihar politician’s business aide operating out of Mumbai.
In all, about Rs 300 crore of tainted funds is estimated to have been invested in the liquor trade by the UP politician since 2001, while the Bihar politician is believed to have pumped in more than Rs 350 crore of his family’s ill-gotten wealth in these cities.
It is learnt the UP politician had invested money through his frontman who handles the finance through a distributorship firm floated in 2001 and the Bihar politician too followed him into the business of laundering scam-tainted money. Frontmen of these politicians entered the liquor market when the Vialsrao Deshmukh government introduced a hike in the annual licence fee between Rs 200-400 crore for various categories of liquor.
A number of retail shop owners sold their licenses and a few others even disposed of their outlets at throwaway prices in suburban Mumbai and parts of Thane and Navi Mumbai. Many of these original licence holders were unable to afford paying the massive hike in the fee and sales too had dropped sizably, according to sources in the Excise department.
It was only following the state government lowering the ceiling on the annual fee, in June 2003, that there was a trickle in the sale of licence and retail shop premises. However, the front company continued its takeover plan even though the numbers of retail licence holders selling their licenses dropped. Since the Prithiviraj Chavan government is not open to introducing a liberalised excise policy, the front companies’ plan to take over 90% of the entire liquor trade industry in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, has not materalised.
Banks sitting on Rs 1,723 crore of unclaimed deposits: Pranab
New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the Parliament that around Rs 1,723.24 crore of depositors’ money is lying as unclaimed with commercial banks. On the total amount, he said, Rs 1,467 crore is lying as unclaimed deposits with the public sector banks and rest is with private and foreign banks. Private banks are sitting on unclaimed amount of Rs 195.9 crore and foreign banks have around Rs 60 crore till December, 2010, he said. Minister of State for finance S.S. Palanimanickam said the Finance Ministry has detected over 11 lakh duplicate permanent account numbers (PANs) till date. As on March 31, there were over 12 crore PAN numbers in existence, the minister said. The number of income tax returns filed in the 2010-11 were close to 3.5 crore.
New Delhi: Rapping the Ministry of External Affairs for delaying work in Indian Chancery in Paris, the Comptroller and Auditor General said it has blocked capital of Rs 18 crore for the past five years apart from the Mission incurring a recurring liability of Rs 26 lakh per year. “Delay in implementation of project has blocked the capital of 18 crore on purchase of new building which has been lying unused since 2006. The mission has also been forced to incur a recurring liability of Rs 26 lakh per annum on rent of the Space Wing which was envisaged to be relocated in the new building after renovation”, the CAG said in its report. Despite audit findings reported earlier and assurances given by the Ministry of Public Accounts Committee, it was noticed during audit of the Mission at Paris that it took more than four years to complete the formalities in awarding the contract for renovation work, it said.
Agent helped locals steal power
Thane: A power theft racket was busted by the officials of MSEDCL who found to their horror that an agent helped locals to steal power. It recovered Rs. 7 lakh and took action against 14 people. According to sources, the Bhandup division o MSEDC took action after the officials learnt that Navdurga apartment on Ghodbunder Road indulged in power theft with the help of an agent. Officials claim that Manjit Singh Arora, who pretends himself as agent for MSEDC, had visited their Patlipada office and threatened the staff, “With the help of Arora they continued to get the power supply by illegal means. As per MSEDC officials, the entire matter came to light when the Kolshet division came to know about this theft and therefore sent a letter informing dues of Rs 3.78 lakh to the locals. Their overdues increased to Rs 7.45 lakh and accordingly, we took action against them,” the locals said. However the officials claim that the locals failed to pay the dues and hence their connection was discontinued.
No hospital, but Rs 25 lakh already spent
The government’s auditor has lambasted the Public Works Department (PWD) for its wasteful expenditure of Rs 25.62 lakh on a hospital project in Dwaraka which did not take off even 14 years after its conception. What’s more shocking, the civic agency has blocked funds worth Rs 14.2 crore on the project.
Last month, PWD came under CAG’s fire over irregularities in several infrastructure projects linked to the Commonwealth Games.
On the last day of the monsoon session, the CAG report for March 2010 was tabled in the House. The report mentions lapses in several projects and blasts the agency for lack of proper planning, delays and mismanagement of funds.
The reporters states that due to inadequate planning, the project to construct a hospital at Dwaraka conceived 14 years back could not materialize even after incurring funds to tune of Rs 14.62 lakh. The government is still not clear whether the project will be implemented by PWD or by public-private partnership.
In another case involving construction of an orthopedic block at LNJP Hospital, the report cites irregularities by PWD awarding of contracts. This led to wasteful expenditure of Rs 5.15 crore, which was paid to two other agencies. In addition, an interest of Rs 26.57 lakh was paid by PWD.
This not only bled the coffers, but also prolonged the scheduled completion of the hospital building which was scheduled to be completed by July 2010. Instead, it was only handed over in December 2010, resulting in denial of healthcare.
In another case, the auditor mentions irregular awarding of contract leading to excess expenditure of Rs. 1.27 crore.
“PWD awarded the work to a contractor over and above 10% of justified cost, in violation of the provisions of CPWD. This resulted in undue benefit of Rs 1.27 crore to the contractor,” the CAG report says.
Politics of liquor trade
Mumbai: It’s not just politicians from the cow belt dominating the liquor trade in Mumbai. A former railway employee is learnt to own some 27 retail liquor shops in the city.
The man, who 15 years ago, smuggled liquor from Daman to Maumbai by train while on duty, sold it to specific retail shops and is supposedly close to a powerful politician from Vidarbha.
In fact, this politician has also bailed out former railway employee when a truckload of liquor was seized at the Dahisar check naka while being smuggled into the city from Daman some 5 years ago.
His political clout gave him immunity against penal action, according to a state excise official. The excise official disclosed that a large amount of liquor is smuggled into the city from Daman through road and is offloaded into the retail outlets and godowns owned by this ex-railway official, which are located in various parts of the city. There is a strong suspicion that politicians are laundering tainted money in the liquor trade through this ex-railway employee who wields considerable clout in the retail liquor business in Mumbai.
Also, politicians from the cow belt of India who are believed to have taken over nearly around 50% of the liquor trade in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, in the last 10 years, are threatening to take over nearly 90 per cent of the trade in these cities. While one of the politicians is from Uttar Pradesh, another is from Bihar. Interestingly, though both the politicians who are currently in the opposition in their respective state, they reportedly enjoy a close rapport with powerful politicians control approximately 80% of the liquor distributorship trade and 50% of the retail business in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
Currently, about 80 licences have been purchased in Mumbai and its neighbouring towns by the front company managed by the UP politician’s close aide who originally hails from Etawah and 40% licences by the front company floated by the Bihar politician’s business aide operating out of Mumbai.
In all, about Rs 300 crore of tainted funds is estimated to have been invested in the liquor trade by the UP politician since 2001, while the Bihar politician is believed to have pumped in more than Rs 350 crore of his family’s ill-gotten wealth in these cities.
It is learnt the UP politician had invested money through his frontman who handles the finance through a distributorship firm floated in 2001 and the Bihar politician too followed him into the business of laundering scam-tainted money. Frontmen of these politicians entered the liquor market when the Vialsrao Deshmukh government introduced a hike in the annual licence fee between Rs 200-400 crore for various categories of liquor.
A number of retail shop owners sold their licenses and a few others even disposed of their outlets at throwaway prices in suburban Mumbai and parts of Thane and Navi Mumbai. Many of these original licence holders were unable to afford paying the massive hike in the fee and sales too had dropped sizably, according to sources in the Excise department.
It was only following the state government lowering the ceiling on the annual fee, in June 2003, that there was a trickle in the sale of licence and retail shop premises. However, the front company continued its takeover plan even though the numbers of retail licence holders selling their licenses dropped. Since the Prithiviraj Chavan government is not open to introducing a liberalised excise policy, the front companies’ plan to take over 90% of the entire liquor trade industry in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, has not materalised.
Banks sitting on Rs 1,723 crore of unclaimed deposits: Pranab
New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the Parliament that around Rs 1,723.24 crore of depositors’ money is lying as unclaimed with commercial banks. On the total amount, he said, Rs 1,467 crore is lying as unclaimed deposits with the public sector banks and rest is with private and foreign banks. Private banks are sitting on unclaimed amount of Rs 195.9 crore and foreign banks have around Rs 60 crore till December, 2010, he said. Minister of State for finance S.S. Palanimanickam said the Finance Ministry has detected over 11 lakh duplicate permanent account numbers (PANs) till date. As on March 31, there were over 12 crore PAN numbers in existence, the minister said. The number of income tax returns filed in the 2010-11 were close to 3.5 crore.
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