CWG - Shiela Dixit imported street lights - India

03 aug 2011

‘Needless use of imported luminaries for street lighting'

Dr Sanjay Kumar Cardiac Cardiothoracic Heart Surgeon India

Unwarranted use of imported luminaries, irregularities in procurement process and lack of a uniform procedure for implementation of street lighting in the Capital before the Commonwealth Games are highlighted in the Performance Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The Delhi Government launched the project “Delhi street lighting system” in June 2006 targeting completion by 2009. The CAG said none of the implementing agencies – the Public Works Department (PWD), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) – could complete the project within the stipulated time.

According to the report, initial estimates for the project included bidding by three shortlisted firms for only indigenously manufactured luminaries. After the initial approval was withdrawn, the PWD invited two more spot quotations where the firms quoted for indigenous and imported luminaries. Some of these were installed on a sample stretch and approved by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the PWD Minister.

The PWD categorised city roads based on the kind of luminary to be installed (imported or indigenous) and revised the preliminary estimate by incorporating use of imported along with indigenous luminaries, it said.

The other two civic agencies also adopted the same categorisation leading to “avoidable extra expenditure of Rs.31.07 crore across the three agencies” on account of the luminaries being imported.

The report further said “imported and indigenous luminaries were identical”, and “equally compliant” with lighting standards specified by the Government.

It also said that eligibility criteria for bidders were “restrictive” and “selectively applied” in addition to the selection process not being competitive. The report mentioned the case of a vendor “Spaceage Switchgear India Limited that was initially found ineligible, and later found eligible during reassessment done when the firm represented to the Chief Minister”. The parameter of being a luminary manufacturer of “international repute” was not verified for the firm, while other firms had been rejected on the same grounds, said the report.

Government reaction:

Speaking in defence of the Chief Minister, Delhi Chief Secretary P. K. Tripathi said: “The CAG report has not been made available and even when it is made available, the appropriate forum for discussing the report would be the Public Accounts Committee. I am, therefore, neither aware nor addressing the issues related to the CAG report. I am reacting to the media reports on the CAG report as they tend to malign the image of the government,” he said.

Mr. Tripathi also denied that Spaceage Switchgears “was selected at the behest/directions of the Chief Minister”.