New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has expressed its disappointment over slow the progress of a strategic road project along the Indo-Nepal border and asked the home ministry to take proactive steps to finish the incomplete work.
The PAC, headed by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, also noted that it did not find the reply of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) “plausible” as before conceptualisation of any project, a detailed feasibility study and due diligence must be undertaken encompassing all prevailing and foreseeable scenarios, with a view to bringing forth an action plan for the project.
“While noting that for around 50 percent of encumbrance free length, either the work was in progress or was not taken up even after more than 10 years of the inception of the project, the committee while expressing disappointment at the slow pace of the project recommend the ministry to take proactive measures to expedite the completion of works on these encumbrance free segments on priority basis with a view to achieving faster mobility of troops to dominate the sensitive border more effectively,” the PAC said in its report tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The committee noted that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved in November 2010, the proposal of the MHA for construction and upgrading of 1,377 km of strategic border roads along the Indo-Nepal border to enable the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) which is deployed there for security, to dominate the sensitive border effectively, in Bihar (564km), Uttar Pradesh (640 km) and Uttrakhand (173 km), at a total estimated cost of Rs 3,853 crore with a timeframe of five years i.e. by March 2016.
Public Works Department (PWD) and Road Construction Department (RCD) of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand were the executing agencies.
While the cost of construction was to be borne by central government, state governments had to bear the cost of land, ensure wildlife and forest clearances, other statutory clearances and look after maintenance of roads.
The committee also noted from the audit observation that the project could not be completed by March 2016 due to delays in acquisition of land and obtaining of environment, forest and wildlife clearances by the three states.
Therefore, extension of time was given by the CCS in February, 2018, up to December 31, 2019 for completion of those ongoing works which were free from encumbrance and up to December 31, 2022 for completion of balance work involving land with encumbrance.
A high-level empowered committee of the MHA, which is headed by Union Home Secretary, empowered by CCS to consider any change in the projects in the time and cost estimates within overall ceilings sanctioned by CCS in December, 2019. It further extended the timeline up to December 31, 2022 for the whole project i.e. encumbrance free stretches and stretches with encumbrance.
In light of strategic significance of the project, aimed at enhancing troop mobility, controlling anti-national activities, and facilitating border area development, the PAC is of the considered opinion that swift resolution of issues involved and timely completion of this project is imperative for bolstering national security and ensuring effective border management.
The committee while hoping that the work on the encumbrance free stretches would have been completed within the timelines desire to be apprised of the details of the completed and the ongoing projects and therefore, recommend that earnest efforts should be taken to ensure completion of the other stretches within the revised timelines.
The committee also noted from the audit observation that the approval of 26 DPRs costing Rs 2634.91 crore by the high-level empowered committee without ensuring availability of land and requisite clearances resulted in time and cost overruns. PTI ACB ZMN
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