Payments against bogus bills made during Kabaddi World Cup in Punjab: CAG Report

Chandigarh: Instances of payments against bogus bills have come to light during the World Cup Kabaddi tournament organised in Punjab, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report tabled in the State Assembly here.

The auditor also found that an expenditure of Rs 1.78 crore was incurred during the World Cup Kabaddi tournament in contravention of financial rules.

The CAG report said no perspective and annual plans were prepared by the Punjab State Sports Council (PSSC) during the years 2011-16 to achieve its objectives and to provide direction to the promotion of sports in the State.

The Council also suffered a loss of Rs 1.50 crore due to non/short collection of membership fee and ground booking fee, the report, which was tabled in the State Assembly here yesterday, said.

With a view to promoting Kabaddi, World Cup Kabaddi (WCK) was being organised annually by PSSC since 2010.The Punjab State Sports Council is a nodal agency for implementing the sports agenda of the State.

"However, its implementation lacked any perspective or annual work plan. Financial management was poor as instances of unplanned expenditure and irregular release of grant were noticed. Instances of payment against bogus bills were noticed during the World Cup Kabaddi tournament".

Test check of records at district level at Bathinda and Ludhiana of second and fourth World Cup Kabaddi held in November 2011 and December 2013 respectively found that "an expenditure of Rs 1.78 crore was incurred for making various arrangements without calling quotations/tenders as required under the rules. Reasons for not calling quotations/tenders were not on record."

The audit also found out that during the second world cup held in November 2011 at Bathinda, Rs 3500 per bus was paid to six transporters for using their 227 buses on November 1, 2011 and November 18, 2011.

"Verification of the records of the District Transport Officer, Bathinda, revealed that the bills of 47 buses out of 227 were bogus as the registration numbers shown in the bills were of scooters, motorcycles, cars and trucks," the CAG report stated.

Touching upon the poor state of affairs of some hockey turfs, the report pointed out that synthetic hockey turfs in four out of nine inspected grounds were damaged.

"One synthetic hockey turf was laid in a private institute where moss had gathered on it and was not being utilised," it said.

"Two out of six indoor halls (Gurdaspur and Bathinda), where 20 national gymnastic/judo players were practicing were in a poor condition with poor drinking water facility, poor sanitation, broken taps in washrooms, broken roof sheets, broken window panes and cracked floor".

Sufficient number of coaches were not present in six out of the eight districts, the report stated.

Under the Sports Policy, 2010, of the State government, a provision was made for pension for eminent sports persons and for this purpose, the state government was to provide the funds to the PSSC.

"Test check of records for the period of 2011-16 revealed that pension amounting to Rs 0.03 crore to all the 123 veteran players had not been disbursed for the year 2015-16 due to non-release of funds by the State government," the report said.