SHILLONG: The public accounts committee (PAC) has taken note of the wasteful expenditure and construction of a helipad at Umsawli.
PAC member, H.M Shangpliang told reporters that in 2006-2007, there was a proposal to lay the foundation of the IIM.
“At that point of time, the Union HRD minister was supposed to land at Umsawli, and the state government immediately directed the PWD to construct a temporary helipad without following the procedures of tendering,” he said.
“The administrative approval was given to the PWD after the work was completed and the particular helipad is no longer in existence as IIM Shillong had constructed its administrative building in the same place,” Shangpliang said.
The helipad constructed at Umsawli on the outskirts of the city was for VVIPs to land just for one day – to lay the foundation stone of the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management in 2007
This has not been utilised for the purpose, a report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India had said.
Instead, the foundation stone was laid on December 1, 2007at Mayurbhanj complex, Nongthymmai, where the RGIIM started functioning temporarily.
Moreover, even after three years, the helipad remained non-utilised According to the findings of the CAG report (year ended March 31, 2009), the public works department had incurred an expenditure of Rs 42.87lakh for the construction of the helipad at Umsawli.
“The utilisation of the helipad in the near future is also not feasible, because of deterioration due to passage of many years without any maintenance”, the CAG said.
The CAG further observed that the construction of the helipad only for landing of VVIPs for one day for laying the foundation stone and non-utilisation of the same for the purpose for which it was constructed rendered the entire expenditure of Rs 42.87 lakh wasteful. According to the CAG, the justification for the construction of helipad on the part of the government was that the proposed location for the laying of the foundation stone was far from the state capital where traveling by road “was unsafe and inconvenient”.
To a further query from the CAG regarding the matter, the state government said that as the site of the helipad was within the proposed new Shillong Township, more projects would come up and the helipad ultimately will be useful in the near future.
“Even if the contention of the government is accepted, use of the helipad would not be possible without incurring further expenditure because of deterioration in condition due to non-maintenance”, the CAG had said.
The CAG report also pointed out that in violation of the Meghalaya Financial Rules 1981, the execution of the work was taken up in January 2006 by the executive engineer (EE), National Highway By Pass Division, much before accord of administrative approval.
“As per the financial rule, for every work, other than petty works, initiated by or required by any department, it is necessary to obtain administrative approval of the department concerned to the proposal before technical sanction,” the CAG added.
