The Comptroller and Auditor General has pulled up the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation for not utilizing acquired land worth about Rs 4,488 crore and failing to boost micro, small and medium enterprises as per the requirements of the Industrial Policy.
“land measuring 7,542.76 acres valuing Rs 4,488.86 crore acquired between January 2006 and April 2013 has not yet been taken up for development of Industrial Estates,” stated the CAG report for the year ending March 31, 2017 on public sector undertakings, which was tabled in State Assembly on Wednesday.
According to the findings of the performance audit on ‘Acquisition of land, Development of Industrial Estates and their Management’ by HSIIDC, the company, which is the nodal agency for development of infrastructure and industrialization in the state, has not prepared any perspective plan for acquisition and development of land for balanced industrial development is the state.
land measuring 7542.76 acres acquired by HSIIDC was for several purposes including development of phase V of Industrial model township in Manesar, setting up of SEZ at Gurgaon, 2100 MW gas based power plant at Bahadurgarh, industrial township in Sonipat and other projects but has not been taken up for development, the report said.
In the report, the government auditor also found that the company acquired 26,796 acres of land till March 2017 and out of which, 24,760 acres fall in the NCR.
“Out of the land acquired in NCR, as much as 7,542.76 acres has not been taken up for development,” it noted while observing that inadequate planning coupled with implementation issues resulted in poor implementation of industrial policy which failed to give boost to MSMEs.
According to the report, the company also incurred extra expenditure of Rs 742.92 crore and Rs 112.61 crore in acquisition of land due to delay in filling of appeals in court and application of incorrect rates, respectively.
There was also delay in execution of development works and against the leviable liquidated Damages (lD) of Rs 19.34 crore, the company levied lD of Rs 5.86 crore only, leaving a shortfall of Rs 13.48 crore, the CAG pointed out.
Apart from this, the percentage of recovery of enhancement in cost of land decreased drastically from 43 in 2014-15 to 12 in 2016-17. Due to poor recovery performance, the overdue amount from allotees increased from Rs 1144.56 crore to Rs 1871.04 crore during the period 2015-17, the report added.
Functioning of PSUs
In its report on state public sector undertakings, the CAG has stated that the accumulated losses stood at Rs 29,269.73 crore in 2016-17 for PSUs in the state.
As on March 31. 2017, the investment (paid-up capital, long term loans and free reserves) in 31 PSUs was Rs 44,361.19 crore.
The government contributed Rs 14,852.18 crore towards equity, loans and grants/subsidies in 13 PSUs during 2016-17.
Out of 26 working PSUs, 17 PSUs submitted 20 accounts upto September 2017. Of these, 7 accounts reflected profit of Rs 271.48 crore and 11 accounts reflected loss of Rs 1,107.51 crore, said the auditor.
Heavy losses were incurred by DHVNl (Rs 471.58 cr during 2015-16) and UHBVN (Rs 336.37 cr during 2015-16) and Rs 205.01 cr in 2016-17), the report stated.
losses in Discoms
Haryana Discoms namely Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam limited and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam limited had incurred expenditure of Rs 127.23 crore on purchase of short term non-solar renewable power instead of purchasing renewable energy certificates by Haryana Power Purchase Centre.
On Meter Pillar Box scheme introduced by the Discoms, the CAG report said that the scheme was introduced without obtaining approval from HERC and it was initiated for the entire state without waiting for outcome of pilot project.
A firm has been benefitted by DHBVNl as 65 percent of the total work orders awarded were issued to the firm.
The scheme could not be implemented effectively as only 34 percent of total material to be supplied was utilized in the project, the report added.
The CAG has also revealed that the DHBVNl made irregular reimbursement of Rs 1.41 crore towards payment of central sales tax to the contractor without documentary evidence.
UHBVN issued sales circular which were non-compliant with Electricity Supply Code Regulations 2014 resulting in short recovery of Rs 10.04 crore, the report added.
HPGCl incurred loss of Rs 1.87 cr
Haryana Power Generation Corporation limited had incurred loss of Rs 1.87 crore on account of excess transit loss vis-avis HERC norms due to entering into deficient contract with a coal agent.
The award of word of preparing tender documents before obtaining a firm coal linkage resulted in unfruitful expenditure of 62.54 lakh.
On the other hand, Haryana Agro Industries Corporation limited and Haryana State Warehousing Corporation raised bills for differential claims of wheat and custom milled rice on FCI with delays ranging between 8 to 333 days which resulted in avoidable payment of interest of Rs 2.66 crore.