Bhubaneswar: The Accountant General (AG) of Odisha has found an unwanted expenditure of Rs 37.19 crore in execution of four road projects by the Works department. The contractors concerned have also got undue benefit of Rs 8 crore for the deviation from norms.
In a draft audit report, the AG said the Works department has technically sanctioned Rs 266.35 crore for widening and strengthening of four road projects to two-lane with paved shoulder in March 2018.
The works were awarded in between January and February 2019 against an amount of Rs 210.82 crore for completion between July and August 2020. The works were in progress with payment of Rs 25.74 crore as of March 2020, the auditor said.
During the audit, it was found that the government has deviated from the norms and allowed construction of two lanes with paved shoulder in the four projects– Gopalpur-Chhattisgarh border road, Bisoi-Rairangapur stretch on State Highway-50, Godobandha-Kalanda road, Komtalpeta-Kalayansingpur road. Due to this wrong estimate by engineers, the government had to bear an additional expenditure of Rs 37.19 crore, it said.
Similarly, the over estimation of the government led to undue benefit of Rs 8.01 crore to the contractors.