PWD Minister cites CAG report to allege Rs 3,500 cr irregularities under previous Kejriwal Government

Delhi PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh on Sunday cited the CAG report released on August 7, which covers the period up to March 31, 2023, to allege irregularities amounting to Rs 3,500 crore under the previous Kejriwal Government.

The minister pointed to bogus e-way bills worth Rs 68,680 crore generated by businesses with cancelled GST registrations, 1,185 manual tenders in violation of mandatory online tendering rules, and Rs 42 crore in electricity subsidies allegedly released to consumers who were not residing at their homes.

Singh said 24 CAG reports have been received within 18 months of the present government, with each reportedly exposing corruption involving thousands of crores of rupees.

He said that the latest August 7 report reveals the scale of irregularities across multiple departments during the Kejriwal Government’s tenure. On GST irregularities, Singh alleged that approximately Rs 70,410 crore in tax revenue was outstanding from certain businesses in Delhi, and the Delhi Government had failed to recover it for more than five years. The CAG report found 8,334 businesses whose GST registrations had been cancelled yet continued to generate e-way bills, resulting in bogus e-way bills worth Rs 68,680 crore.

Additionally, 4,076 non-filers continued generating e-way bills worth Rs 11,635 crore. Singh said all this happened in collusion with the Kejriwal Government.

He said that out of 6.10 crore e-way bills, only 0.10 per cent were examined. Investigation into 70 cases found 344 instances of non-compliance involving a revenue impact of Rs 3,071.92 crore, while a turnover mismatch of Rs 3,710.17 crore was also detected.

On electricity subsidies, Singh alleged that 50,000 consumers whose electricity bills remained zero for 12 consecutive months were nonetheless provided subsidies amounting to Rs 17.81 crore. Around 90,000 consumers who had not been residing at their homes for six to eleven months received electricity subsidies worth Rs 11.88 crore. He said a total of Rs 42 crore was released from government funds in the name of power subsidies in such cases, and the matter would be investigated.

On manual tendering, Singh said the Kejriwal government conducted 1,185 manual tenders in violation of the mandatory requirement that all tenders be conducted online.

In these 1,185 tenders, 14,527 bids were received. He alleged that rates were effectively decided in a predetermined manner through mutual understanding among bidders. He said files related to contract awards were available in only 3 per cent of tenders, while files for the remaining 97 per cent were missing from Government records.

On the Baprola industrial land, Singh cited the CAG finding of Rs 29.45 crore in unfruitful expenditure on 137.63 acres acquired for an industrial park, with 81.42 acres lying unused for 17 years and a ground rent of Rs 15.79 crore remaining outstanding. On LNJP Hospital construction, Singh alleged that the cost per bed rose from an expected Rs 33 lakh to Rs 72 lakh after then-Minister Satyendar Jain repeatedly visited the construction site.

Singh said Kejriwal never allowed audits to be conducted during his tenure, and that is why ministers went to jail while he did not.