New Delhi: Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit
on Tuesday virtually snubbed the CAG for its report on procurement
of low-floor buses by the city government, saying the auditor
should have taken a much more "holistic view" on the issue
rather than nitpicking.
Criticising the CAG for its adverse report on the issue,
Dikshit said the Delhi government purchased the buses at much
lower rates as compared to many other states.
"We changed the buses because we wanted Delhi to become a
modern city and that is everyone`s dream too. But we got a
report from the CAG that you have wasted public money and that
you have got more expensive buses," she said addressing a
panel discussion here.
In its report for the year ending March 2009, the
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) pointed out
towards the procurement order for 1,500 non-AC and 1,000 AC
low-floor buses in September 2008 and said the vehicles were
purchased at "rates over and above the justified rate"
prescribed by a technical committee.
"The outcome is much more important. If the outcome is
good, visible and satisfies everybody that should be the
criteria rather than nitpicking.
"These observations on small issues discourage policy
makers and bureaucrats to take decisions. Our officers are
scared to take decisions because they fear there will be a
report from the CAG which will ask why did you spend this
much," she said.
Dikshit said the city government paid Rs 49.99 lakh for
each non-AC low floor bus while Vijaywada and Uttar Pradesh
paid Rs 50.74 lakh and 51.5 lakh, respectively.
She said each low-floor AC bus was purchased for Rs 59.3
lakh in Delhi while Pune paid Rs 67 lakh for such a bus.
"The idea of procuring these buses was not only to make
Delhi a modern city but to keep people off from cars as much
as possible," she said.
"Whatever we have spent is visible to everyone and CAG
should also have taken a much more holistic view," she added.
PTI
