Conduct bunkers audit

State  Government  would  have  citedfinancial  reasons  as  the  stumblingblock and the main handicap, had thedemand  of constructing community and indi-vidual bunkers in areas in close proximity tothe  Line  of  Control  and  the  InternationalBorder  been  faced  by  it  from  the  sufferingborder dwellers. Now that, as back as in 2017Union  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs    havingaccorded  sanction  to    the    construction  of13029  individual  and  1431  communitybunkers in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouriand  Poonch  districts  at  a  cost  of  Rs.  416crore, problems extraneous to finance havecrept in the shape of the State Governmentnot facilitating physical and financial audit ofthese bunkers. It is also beyond one’s dis-cernment  to  find  a  blatant  variation  in  thedecision of the Government in respect of hav-ing  these  bunkers  undergo  the  process  ofaustere  and strict audit while simultaneouslynot facilitating the same by extending the req-uisite support base. Home Department should appoint a teamto undertake the detailed and hard labouredaudit and inspection of these bunkers scat-tered across the designated districts. Not onlythe audit, the designated  team should findout the reasons of the  pace of work  foundquite  below  expectations  as  also  the  poorquality of construction reported in respect ofmany bunkers where gaping cracks had sur-faced despite the fact that the required fundswere  kept  at  the  disposal  of  the  StateGovernment for construction of these muchneeded bunkers for the border dwellers whohave to face the  direct brunt of the hostilitiesof Pakistan.Though the decision of conducting physicalinspection and audit etc was taken earlier fol-lowed by appointing the Inspecting and AuditOfficer in March this year, with the stipulationthat the entire job was to be completed withina period of 20 days which includes submis-sion of the detailed report, so far nothing con-crete has moved on the ground which meansthat the said decision has remained confinedto paper work only. Home Department beingthe Nodal Agency responsible for the entirejob of construction of bunkers and all associ-ated issues related thereto including utiliza-tion  of  funds  under  Security  RelatedExpenditure,  it  becomes  its  prime  duty  tohave the audit and inspection completed atthe  earliest  even  by  sparing  some  of  itsemployees for the job. It should be realisedand  appreciated  that  such  an  approachadopted  by  the  administration  can  only  betermed as half-hearted,  the effect of whichwas  going  to  be  on  the  utilization  of  suchbunkers by the suffering people of our borderareas.It will not be out of place or context to men-tion that the ‘culture’ of audit and inspectionsis  neither encouraged to be made an inalien-able part and parcel of the working system ofthe  State  Departments  by  the  successiveGovernments  nor  its importance in findingout areas of slippages,  doubts, ambiguitiesetc in the system given due  importance toarrest irregularities, embezzlement  and cor-ruption and this scenario has apparently beengaining a foothold in the system. The StateGovernment, on any date, cannot claim thatall  its  departments  have  periodically  beenaudited and the audit reports attended to andirregularities addressed depending upon theirnature of severity. The issue of non-reimbursement of Rs. 22crore  for  pilot  project  of  construction  of  60bunkers in Jammu which was not approvedby the Union Home Ministry also continues toremain unresolved. We would, therefore, liketo impress upon the concerned authorities inresolving  the  issue  in  the  interests  of  the Government itself   to  place  at  rest  variousspeculations about deciding for audit but notpractically facilitating it.

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