Bhat Imran
Srinagar, Jan 19: In Jammu and Kashmir, the executing agencies have failed to complete the construction of Girls Hostels that were approved by the Government of India (GoI) in the year 2017, reveals a report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). CAG in its report has said, “The Department of Higher Education, Government of Jammu and Kashmir submitted a proposal in October-2016 for Construction of Seven Girls Hostels in Government Degree Colleges (GDCs).”
“This was approved in March-2017 under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) by the Government of India (GoI) for a total project cost of Rs 50 Crores,” CAG said.
It states that the works of the project were technically vetted by the Development Commissioner (Works) for Rs 48.41 Crore and the period for completion was eight months (February 2018) from the date of issue of authorization order.
“The assistance from the GoI, through the University Grants Commission (UGC) was 100 percent of the approved cost, subject to the condition that expenditure over and above the allocation by UGC was to be met by the Institutions from their own resources,” reads the CAG report.
CAG said that out of the seven Girls Hostels to be constructed, five girls’ hostels in GDCs were selected for test check in audit.
“As seen from the records and photographs, out of the five tests checked Girls Hostels in GDCs where the construction of Hostels was proposed, work of construction of three Girls Hostels was at different stages,” it reads.
It also states that, “In the remaining two Girls Hostels, work had been stopped at plinth level due to lack of specific experience of the executing agencies as well as the knowhow of the new technology being adopted despite incurring (March 2019) an expenditure of Rs 3.01 Crore.”
