The Delhi government is mulling to send at least 50 cases related to irregularities in various departments flagged in Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report to the CBI for inquiry.

CAG report flagging those irregularities was tabled in Delhi Assembly on Tuesday. Sources told The Statesman that perusal of the report was going on and the number of cases to be sent to CBI might see an increase.

“Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,” sources said, “is himself looking into the report.”

Earlier citing a CAG report, Kejriwal accused Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of “protecting” ration mafia in the Capital. Sharing an extract from the CAG report highlighting various loopholes, Kejriwal took to micro-belonging site Twitter accusing the L-G of trying to shield ration mafia by rejecting government’s proposal of doorstep delivery of ration.

“This is what LG trying to protect when he rejects doorstep delivery of rations. The entire ration system is in the grip of mafia protected by political masters. Doorstep delivery would have destroyed this mafia,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Kejriwal warned that an “exemplary action” would be taken against the guilty in each case of corruption or irregularity pointed by the CAG.”No one will be spared,” he declared.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who tabled the CAG report in the Assembly, also attacked the L-G and bureaucrats over many “irregularities” related to municipal roads and the public distribution system.

Sisodia, who is also the Finance Minister, admitted the CAG report helped the government in identifying shortcomings in the system. he gave an assurance that the government would resolve all shortcomings and a strong action would be taken against that responsible ~ be it, ministers or officers ~ for the crippled system.

Reading out the CAG report with regard to the public distribution system, Sisodia said it found that eight vehicles which ferried 1,589.92 quintals of specified food articles to fair price shops had registration number of buses, scooters, motorcycles and three-wheelers.

“This gives rise to doubt whether the reported transportation of SFAs (specified food articles) had actually taken place and possibility of pilferage could not be ruled out,” the report stated.

‘Sewer work delayed by 10 yrs due to lack of due diligence by DJB’

The CAG said lack of “due diligence” and not adhering to timelines by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) led to inordinate delay in laying sewer pipes, despite an expenditure of Rs 10.85 crore on it.

The report also rapped the Delhi Jal Board for its oversight in planning the sewer work.

It said it was due to lack of “due diligence” and not adhering to timelines coupled with ad-hoc planning and management oversight, the sewer laying work which was to be completed by September 2007 remained work in progress as of June 30, 2017.

There were five sites where permission for cutting roads were required, but the board obtained permissions for four sites, it said.

“Risk of delays in getting the permissions should have been adequately managed by consulting these civic agencies about sewer laying plan in advance and the permissions should have been obtained prior to awarding the contract, which was not done,” the CAG report said.

The report said the DJB should have considered using open cut technology for laying sewer pipes on gaps at these road sites in 2006 as well as when they re-awarded the contract in 2010.

The board realised that it should use trenchless technology only in May 2011 when a team of DJB senior officials visited the areas, it said.

“Having decided to use trenchless technology in May 2011, the DJB took another six years to award the contract in March 2017. The work which was supposed to cost Rs 3.76 crore, it will now cost Rs 6.62 crore,” the report said.

The completed portion could not be put to use since August 2011 after spending Rs 10.85 crore including road restoration charges of Rs 6.88 crore.

Further, actual expenditure on road restoration by the agencies concerned was also not known to the DJB, the report said, adding that the intended objective to “abate pollution level in Yamuna river” could not be achieved for the last 10 years.

47 pc blood banks were running without valid licences: CAG report

Thirty-two out of the 68 blood banks in the national capital were functioning “without valid licences” in the last fiscal due to delay in processing applications for their renewal, the CAG has pointed out.

The CAG has also highlighted that there were “several deficiencies” in the management of blood banks during financial year 2016-2017.

“Thirty-two out of the 68 blood banks in the National Capital Territory of Delhi were functioning without valid licences due to delay in processing applications for their renewal,” the report said.

“Thirty-two blood banks were not updating authentic information pertaining to blood/blood components in the National Health Portal depriving the common people of the National Capital Territory of Delhi about information regarding availability of blood and blood components in the blood banks,” it added. The report further pointed out that voluntary blood collection declined from 54.55 per cent during 2014-15 to 45.20 per cent during 2016-17.

No blood bank of the city government and the municipal corporations of Delhi were performing Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAT) screening affecting the quality of blood, it said.

The CAG also said that “oversight and monitoring over the functioning of blood banks was inadequate”.

Holes in pay fixation for Safdarjung doctors

The CAG as picked holes in pay fixation of 52 doctors and consultants of the Safdarjung Hospital here, saying incorrect calculations led to an excess payment of over Rs 70 lakh for over one and half years.

It said the state-run hospital failed to ensure that the quantum of Non Practicing Allowance (NPA) used for pay fixation in terms of Central Civil Service Rules, 2016, did not exceed the NPA plus basic pay i.e Rs 85,000.

“This resulted in excess payment of NPA aggregating Rs 70.85 lakh,” CAG said in its report tabled in the parliament today.

It noted that there was no internal mechanism in the hospital for post facto checks of pay fixation, thereby entailing “a risk of discrepancies remaining undetected for prolonged periods”.