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STATES: GUJARAT
Plane Pique
The Keshubhai Patel Government resents the CAG indictment
for the purchase of an aircraft and the chief minister's foreign trips
By Uday Mahurkar
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AGGRIEVED: Keshubhai feels the government's explanations have been
ignored by CAG
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For once, it seemed
as if Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel could sit back and relax. A good
monsoon had given him much-needed respite from mounting public pressure
on drought relief, and the criticism against the tardy earthquake rehabilitation
had become less strident. The political front too has remained quiet for
some time now. But it seems the chief minister's woes are far from over.
In a severe indictment last week, the Comptroller
and Auditor General of India (CAG) castigated the Chief Minister's Office
(CMO) on two counts: two foreign trips that Keshubhai and his officials
undertook to the US and Europe in July 1999 and February 2000 ostensibly
to meet NRIs and solicit foreign investment in the state, and the purchase
of a Super King Air-B aircraft by the Government in November 1999. Coming
as they do on the eve of the by-elections to the Sabarmati assembly constituency
and Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat, the charges could prove to be more than
just an embarrassment for Keshubhai. For the Opposition Congress the indictment
is handy ammunition to attack the ruling party with.
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CAG CHARGES
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On a trip to the US in July 1999, the CMO
carried more officials than approved by the Centre, causing wasteful
expenditure.
The Europe trip in 2000, as also the one
to the US in July 1999, yielded no foreign investments, wasting
taxpayers' money.
The state Government bought a Super King
aircraft for Rs 19 crore instead of buying it for Rs 8 crore from
Maharashtra.
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The state Government, however, is not taking
it lying down. Accusing the CAG of ignoring its point of view, the CMO
first tried to provide an explanation in a nine-page document. To no avail.
Now, locking horns with the CAG, it has issued newspaper ads in the form
of denials, but in the process has attracted criticism from the Opposition.
Says Gujarat Congress chief Amarsinh Chaudhary: "How can they use
government funds to issue such denials?" Admitting that the development
is unprecedented, Accountant-General B. Majumdar has reported the matter
to CAG.
But as far as the CAG is concerned, the charges
are grave. On the issue of the July 1999 foreign trip, the CMO, it says,
had carried more officials than approved by the Union government, causing
wasteful expenditure. It has also accused the state Government of turning
what was originally an unofficial trip into an official one after clearance
from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
According to the CAG, the CMO had first described
the trip to the UK and US as a private visit by officials to meet two
NRI organisations. However, in a revised reference, it managed to convince
the PMO that the trip had to be treated as official because several other
NRIs had also expressed keen interest in meeting the chief minister. The
report accuses the CMO of withholding prior information on proposed NRI
investments and says that ultimately the trip failed to yield any result.
The second trip in February 2000 too, it adds, failed to attract any foreign
investments. The visits thus squandered the taxpayers' money.
The CMO is furious. It maintains that none of
the explanations that it offered had been taken into consideration by
the CAG. For instance, the CAG report has asked Industries Commissioner
K.N. Shelat, who accompanied the chief minister on his February 2000 visit,
to return the $2,500 (Rs 1,17,500) that he had drawn from the government
account for the trip as he had not submitted the details of the expenses
incurred. However, the Government insists that Shelat had spent only $75
(Rs 3,525) and had remitted the remaining amount to the state.
There is a conflict of opinion on the purchase
of the Super King aircraft as well. The CAG report says the Government
had ignored suggestions of senior officials that a similar aircraft could
be bought from the Maharashtra Government at a lower price-Rs 8 crore
as against the Rs 19.12 crore that the Government had paid for the American
plane.
The CMO and the Civil Aviation Department have
also been accused of making the purchase through local bidders instead
of inviting global tenders. But the CMO maintains the Maharashtra Government's
aircraft was a used one and, therefore, cheap. And that for a state that
didn't own any aircraft, it made sense to buy a new one. On the charge
that the recommendations of senior officials had been ignored, the CMO
says it is a "figment of CAG's imagination".
In fact, CAG's own transparency has become a
subject of debate within the CMO. Says P.K. Laheri, principal secretary
to the chief minister: "It is indeed disheartening that the CAG has
ignored the explanations by the state Government before passing harsh
judgements." The Government has now decided to present the matter
to the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee headed by an opposition leader.
"Let the committee examine it and satisfy itself," says Industries
Minister Suresh Mehta. "It is beyond our comprehension why the detailed
explanations given by the Government were not incorporated in the report
and that too after the Accountant-General's Office expressed satisfaction
over them."
The CAG, it knows, cannot be as easily convinced.
But if nothing else, the state Government hopes it will be able to buy
time enough to help it sail through the forthcoming elections.
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