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Civil

Report 23 of 2016 - Performance Audit on Ministry of Rural Development Union Civil

Date on which Report Tabled:
Fri 12 Aug, 2016
Date of sending the report to Government
Government Type
Union
Union Department
Civil
Sector Agriculture and Rural Development

Overview

The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), a centrally sponsored flagship scheme of the Government of India, was introduced on 25 December 2000 to provide all-weather rural road connectivity and to access eligible unconnected habitations as a strategy for poverty alleviation and to overcome deficiencies in rural road planning, inadequacy and unpredictability of funds and lack of maintenance of rural roads.

This performance audit covered the period from April 2010 to March 2015 covering 4,417 packages involving expenditure of `7,734.93crore in 176 districts of 29 states. The audit disclosed instances of non-adherence to planning procedure. Ineligible habitations were covered under the programme while eligible habitations were either left out or incorrectly shown as connected.  The Ministry sanctioned project proposals of some states beyond the admissible indicative allocation limits.  Execution of works was deficient as instances of inefficient contract management, non-recovery of liquidated damages and mobilisation/machinery advances, etc., were observed. Works were abandoned or remained incomplete due to incorrect alignment, land disputes, etc.  States did not provide and utilize the maintenance fund as required. Programme funds and Administrative Expenses funds were diverted towards inadmissible items.  Monitoring was not effective despite an elaborate mechanism prescribed at all the levels under the programme.  The concept of social audit was not incorporated in the programme guidelines. The Online Management, Monitoring and Accounting System software, an online web-based system was not effective due to absence of application controls leading to invalid data entry.

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