New Delhi: The CAG has rapped Home Ministry
and its police wireless wing for incurring an "avoidable
expenditure" of Rs 13 crore towards spectrum charges for Multi
Access Radio Telephones (MART) and said the project has failed
to deliver even eight years after award of work.
MART is an essential component for the functioning of the
Police network-- also called POLNET.
"The reply (from the Directorate of Coordination Police
Wireless) confirms the audit conclusion of the failure of the
Ministry (of Home) to undertake feasibility study to assess
the suitability of the MART technology with reference to the
existing locations of police stations and embarking on the
project without ensuring the availability of site readiness.
"The purpose of the project of achieving a national police
network to provide connectivity to all police stations in the
country with state capitals, district headquarters and the
national capital was not fulfilled even after eight years of
award of work and incurring expenditure of Rs 94.57 crore,"
the CAG report tabled in the Parliament said.
"Further, the Ministry also incurred avoidable expenditure
of Rs 13.08 crore on account of spectrum charges for
un-installed BSUs and RSUs, MART," the report said calling it
an "unfruitful expenditure".
BSUs and RSUs are acronyms for Base Station Units and
Remote Station Units respectively.
PTI
