KRIDL sitting on Rs 17,000 crore of unused funds: CAG

The Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd (KRIDL) has completed less than 30 per cent of works it received between 2016-17 and 2020-21, resulting in accumulation of funds to the tune of Rs 17,320 crore, the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has flagged.

In a stinging observation, the CAG said quality control system in KRIDL is "non-existent".

According to the CAG report on the performance audit of KRIDL tabled in the Assembly on Thursday, 84,574 works were allotted to the state-run company.

Of these, it has completed only 24,014 works, which is 28 per cent. As a result, the company has failed to utilise the funds allotted and is sitting on Rs 17,320 crore of unutilised money, the report said.

Despite availability of funds, many projects were not taken up for over two years, the audit found.

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The report found that funds were released without generation of work codes, which are mandatory to commence a project.

As a fallout, funds have been parked. This was found in several instances between 2017-18 and 2020-21, all adding up to Rs 303.76 crore.

The CAG said KRIDL skirted the tender process by splitting bigger works into small pieces.

It has even used tender exemption provision for ineligible works such as event management, procurement of UPS among other things.

The CAG has recommended to the KRIDL, periodical reconciliation of funds and to provide adequate justification for direct entrustment of works.

The government must make sure that there is a quality management system in place, it said.

In another report on the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board, the CAG has pointed out that the body does not have any data of its own on backwardness indicators of the region.

In the absence of this, the Board has been unable to contribute to policy formulation for development of the region, it said.

In addition, several projects have not been taken up even after fund allocation.

Of the total 28,038 works between 2013-14 and 2021-22, about 2,352 works (8 per cent) had not commenced for anywhere between 1-3 years. About 13 per cent of the works were cancelled. Also, between 2017 and 2021, the Board retained more than 20 per cent of the funds without spending on any development work. As per norms, funds carried forward from one year to the next cannot be more than 20 per cent, the report said.