Press Brief

PRESS BRIEF

In accordance with Article 151 (2) of the Constitution of India, Comptroller and Auditor General of India submitted the following two Audit Reports to the Governor on 02/07/2019 and 24/07/2019, respectively, for being laid on the table of the State Legislature.

1. State Finances Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year 2017-18 (Report No. 1 of 2019), Government of Tripura.

2. Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Economic, Revenue and General Sectors for the year 2017-18 (Report No. 2 of 2019), Government of Tripura.

The State Finances Audit Report for the year 2017-18 (Report No. 1 of 2019), Government of Tripura contains the results of audit of Finance Accounts and Appropriation Accounts and Government’s compliance with various reporting requirements and financial rules.

The Report on Economic, Revenue and General Sectors for the year 2017-18 (Report No. 2 of 2019), Government of Tripura contains the findings of audit of various departments, schemes/programmes, autonomous bodies and departmentally managed commercial undertakings. This Report also contains the observations arising out of audit of Statutory Corporations, Boards and Government Companies and the observations on revenue receipts.

Both the reports have been tabled on the floor of the House in the State Legislature on 30/08/2019. Once being laid, the Audit Reports upon their presentation to the Legislature become public documents.

 

State Finances Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year 2017-18 (Report No. 1 of 2019), Government of Tripura.

The State Finances Audit Report inter alia includes the following:

Position of key fiscal parameters

The fiscal position of the State was viewed in terms of key fiscal parameters – Revenue Surplus, Fiscal Deficit, Primary Deficit, etc. During 2017-18, there was a Revenue Deficit of ` 289.27 crore against the Revenue Surplus of ` 790.32 crore in 2016-17. Fiscal Deficit was ` 2,071.64 crore in 2017-18 which was ` 2,529.62 crore in 2016-17. The Primary Deficit, however, decreased to ` 1,184.75 crore in 2017-18 from ` 1,735.31 crore in 2016-17. The Fiscal Deficit as a percentage of GSDP during 2017-18 stood at 5.22 per cent against the target of 3.25 per cent as projected in the Tripura Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2005 for the year 2017-18.

Revenue Receipts

During the year 2017-18, total Revenue Receipts of the State was ` 10,067.95 crore, of which ` 8,152.45 crore (81 per cent) came from Government of India. The State’s Share of Union Taxes and Duties was ` 4,322.08 crore (53 per cent) and Grants-in-aid was ` 3,830.37 crore (47 per cent) during the year 2017-18. The Own Tax Revenue of the State was ` 1,422.02 crore which constituted 14 per cent of the total Revenue Receipts. The Non-tax Revenue was ` 493.48 crore which constituted only 2 per cent of the Revenue Receipts (` 10,067.95 crore) which was above the projection made by the Fourteenth Finance Commission (` 464.00 crore) and the Budget Estimates made by the State (` 290.00 crore) for the year 2017-18.

Expenditure of the State Government

During the year 2017-18, the Revenue Expenditure increased to ` 10,357.22 crore from ` 8,855.14 crore in 2016-17 recording a growth of 16.96 per cent over the previous year. Capital Expenditure during 2017-18 decreased by ` 1,516.52 crore (46.04 per cent) from ` 3,293.57 crore in 2016-17.to ` 1,777.05 crore in 2017-18.

Salary expenditure under Non-plan Revenue Expenditure (NPRE) was ` 4,872.34 crore during 2017-18 which was higher by ` 1,584.63 crore (48.20 per cent) as compared to the previous year (2016-17).

Fiscal Liabilities

The percentage of outstanding liabilities to GSDP during 2017-18 was 33.72 which was lower than the projection (34.53 per cent) in the Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement and the projection made by the Fourteenth Finance Commission. During 2017-18, Interest Receipts as percentage of outstanding Loans and Advances by the Government was 1.01 per cent whereas interest paid by the Government as a percentage of outstanding liabilities was 7.50 per cent.

Investment and Returns

Investment of Government money in Government Companies and Statutory Corporations was increasing year after year and stood at ` 1,503.88 crore at the end of 31 March 2018 against ` 1,446.06 crore at the end of 31 March 2017. The Government received ` 14.27 crore only as Dividend from a Government company during 2017-18. The average rate of interest on Government borrowings was 7.50 per cent during the year 2017-18.

Financial Management and Budgetary Control

The overall net savings of ` 4,857.70 crore was the result of saving of ` 4,862.88 crore in 62 Grants/Appropriations offset by excess of ` 5.18 crore in four Grants/ Appropriations. The excess expenditure of ` 230.15 crore over provision during 2011-12 to 2016-17 increased by ` 5.18 crore to ` 235.33 crore in 2017-18. In 22 cases, there were savings of more than ` 20 lakh each but no amount was surrendered by the department concerned. There were substantial savings of more than ` 10 crore in five Grants but no savings were surrendered till the end of the year. The Abstract Contingent (AC) Bills were not adjusted for long periods thereby inviting the risk of fraud and misappropriation. As of 31 March 2018, 5,272 AC bills involving ₹ 97.75 crore remained pending for adjustment.

Financial Reporting

The practice of not furnishing of Utilisation Certificates (UCs) in time against grants received, not furnishing of detailed information about financial assistance received by various Institutions and not submitting of accounts by Autonomous Bodies/Authorities in time indicated non-compliance with financial rules. There were also delays in placement of Separate Audit Reports to Legislature and arrears in finalisation of accounts by the Autonomous Bodies/Authorities.

 

 

Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Economic, Revenue and General Sectors for the year 2017-18 (Report No. 2 of 2019), Government of Tripura.

 

A synopsis of the important findings contained in the Report is presented below:

Performance Audits/Thematic Audit/Long Paragraph

Agriculture Department

The main objectives of the Agriculture Department are to minimise the gap between requirement and production of food grains by increasing production and productivity to ensure food security and to improve the socio-economic condition of farmers.

Major irregularities noticed during the performance audit of the Department for the period from 2013‑14 to 2017-18 are given below:

• The Department did not prepare the long-term perspective plan.  In case of National Food Security Mission (NFSM) scheme, bottom up approach in planning was completely missing in the annual action plans prepared by the Mission Director, NFSM.
• Budgetary as well as financial controls were found to be unsatisfactory as instances of persistent savings in every year, retention of huge cash balances by the DDOs, furnishing of UCs by the DDOs without incurring expenditure were noticed.
• The Department did not procure fertilisers as per requirement, which had an adverse effect in production and productivity of the crops.
• The State could not attain self‑sufficiency in meeting the requirement of population of the State as the Department failed to increase the production and productivity of the crops.
• Agriculture marketing suffered from inadequate infrastructures, poor revenue generation and limited application of Board Fund, passive attitude of Market Board and Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs), administrative delay towards implementation of major reforms under APMC Act, 2003 and e-NAM (National Agricultural Market), etc.

NABARD assisted Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for rural connectivity

The main objective of NABARD funded RIDF is to promote balanced and integrated economic development of rural areas in the States by providing low cost fund support (at an interest rate of 1.5 per cent lesser than existing bank rate) to State Governments and State owned Corporations for quick completion of rural infrastructure projects

Major issues noticed during the Performance audit of NABARD assisted RIDF for rural connectivity during 2013-14 to 2017-18 are given below:

• Planning process of the State was inadequate due to non-compliance with the prescribed procedure for identification of projects for loan assistance under RIDF.
• Project proposals submitted by the State Government did not contain the DPRs and were lacking in scrutiny of the project proposals by NABARD, which led to excess sanction of loan.  In the absence of Economic Rate of Return/ Benefit Cost Ratio, economic viability/ benefits of the projects was not ensured by the State.
• Instances of loan amount pending for disbursement by the State Finance Department, wrong claim made for reimbursement as loan by the State Government and diversion of funds, indicate lack of financial controls over utilisation of NABARD loan.  This also resulted in excess borrowing of interest bearing loan.
• Execution of projects was deficient as instances for non-commencement of works were noticed due to non-availability of land and change of drawing and design, etc.

 

Utilisation of Thirteenth Finance Commission and Fourteenth Finance Commission grants

The Finance Commission (FCs) had three constitutionally mandated tasks namely, distribution of net proceeds of taxes between Union and States, Grants-in-Aid to needy States and measures for supplementing the State resources for devolution to Panchayats and Municipalities (local bodies) in the State.

Major issues noticed during the performance audit of utilisation of Finance Commissions grant during the period from 2010-11 to 2017-18 are given below:

• There was lack of well-defined and sound planning in execution of the works from finance commission grants in the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).  ‘Bottom-up’ approach with the active involvement of panchayats and municipalities was not followed in preparation of action plans.
• Instances of incomplete and non-permissible works, huge unspent balances of funds, diversion of grants, outstanding advances, outstanding Utilisation Certificates (UCs), etc. were noticed in audit.
• Short release of grants by the Government of India against the approved outlay due to non-fulfilment of prescribed conditions of release of grants had adversely affected implementation of the projects under state specific needs.
• The implementing departments failed to execute the projects efficiently and in timely manner thereby depriving the beneficiaries from intended benefits of the projects.

Implementation of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) project in Tripura

The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) was conceptualised to facilitate collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, transfer and sharing of data and information among police stations, State Police Headquarters and Central Police Organisations through enhanced Information Technology (IT) tools.

Major points noticed during the performance audit of implementation of CCTNS project during the period from 2013-14 to 2017-18 are given below:

• Out of nine service modules envisaged in the CCTNS guidelines issued to the states, the Home (Police) Department implemented three modules partially through System Integrator (SI).  SI had also implemented data digitisation partially.
• Service modules viz. Law and Order Solution, Traffic Solutions, Crime Prevention Solution, Emergency Response Management Solutions, Reporting Solutions and Human Resources Management System Solution were not implemented.
• No complaint was received from the citizens through web portal due to absence of citizen awareness programme.
• The objective of capacity building was not fully achieved, as 68 per cent of police personnel remained untrained.

Activities of Tripura Tea Development Corporation Limited

The Tripura Tea Development Corporation Limited (Company) was established with the objective of development of tea industry in the State.  The Company is engaged in production and processing of green tea leaves, maintenance of tea estates and factories, etc.; creation of tea processing infrastructures in the State and supply of tea saplings to various beneficiaries/ small tea gardens selected by Government of Tripura.

Major points noticed during the audit of the Company’s activities for the period from 2013-14 to 2017 are given below:

• The Company could not utilise the available land for plantation purpose and 37 per cent land remained unutilised, which was the primary cause of low production.
• Capacity expansion of the Tea Processing Factory was not in synchronisation with the production of green leaves, which resulted in idling of installed capacity of the factory ranging from 35 to 71 per cent.
• The Company created nurseries without getting confirmed orders from the Government resulting in loss of viability of the investment.

Prison safety and prisoners released on parole

The audit on “Prison safety and prisoners released on parole” was undertaken to ascertain the deficiencies in prisons safety and implementation of provisions of rules regarding custody and detention of prisoners by test check of records of Kendriya Sansodhanagar, Tripura (KST), Bishalgarh and three out of 13 Jails for the period from 2013-14 to 2017-18.

Audit observed the following major deficiencies:

• Due to lack of co-ordination between Home (Jail) and Home (Police) Departments, a number of hard-core criminals who were released on parole or escaped from prisons, still remain at large.
• Jails were facing acute shortage of staff across all cadres, which in turn adversely affected their functioning.
• Jails were lacking in adequate security measures.  Security related equipment were found to be either lying idle or not working optimally. This resulted in escape of prisoners and entry of prohibited articles inside the jail.

 

Compliance Audit Paragraphs

Some important points noticed during Compliance Audit are given below:

• Failure of the Public Works (Roads and Buildings) Department to ensure availability of clear site in time, delay in handing over of design and drawing to the contractor, etc. resulted in the work of three RCC bridges on Chailengta-Chawmanu Road remaining incomplete even after a lapse of nearly three years from the stipulated date of completion, rendering the expenditure of ₹ 9.74 crore incurred thereon idle.
• Detailed Project Reports of two flyovers in Agartala city prepared by the Consultant were not based on ground reality, which led to extra expenditure of ₹ 78.37 lakh towards detailed sub-soil investigation at abutment/ pier locations carried out again by the consultant.
• Failure of the Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation Limited to ensure availability of required funds before taking up rubber plantations in Warangbari had rendered the fate of plantations raised at ₹ 1.11 crore uncertain, defeating the very purpose of benefitting 100 tribal populations.
• Failure of the Tripura Natural Gas Company Limited to reduce the contracted quantity of natural gas for transmission to the consumers at Bodhjungnagar Industrial Growth Centre in time resulted in avoidable loss of ₹ 51.69 lakh during 2016-17 and 2017-18.
• Although the Companies Act, 2013 contains mandatory provision of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Tripura Natural Gas Company Limited (TNGCL) did not comply with the provisions of the Act.  There were instances of non-utilisation of fund with shortfall in spending ranging from 50 per cent to 100 per cent.  Delay in identification of suitable beneficiaries defeated the overarching goal of TNGCL’s CSR initiatives.
• Failure of the Assessing Authorities (Superintendent of Taxes, Charge-II; Superintendent of Taxes, Charge-IV and Superintendent of Taxes, Charge-VI) to detect concealment of purchase turnover by the dealers resulted in short levy of tax of ₹ 28.03 lakh, non-levy of interest of ₹ 18.01 lakh and penalty of ₹ 2.80 lakh.
• Violation of provisions of financial rules regarding handling of cash, absence of supervision and internal control in the Home (Jail) Department led to embezzlement of ₹ 4.70 lakh.