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Mismanagement of grants from the Government of India: infrastructure, constructions, repairs The following is the outcome of research based on the reports and emails exchanges that I have received from Govind and Sathyanarayan, after the case was presented at a meeting with members of the Residents Assembly Revival Task Force. Govind Ranjan is a technically competent professional with valuable credentials: twenty-five years of experience in Civil Engineering and Environmental Planning, Chartered Engr; Approved Valuer of Immovable Properties (Land & Building) by Income Tax Dept & SBI; Technical Arbitrator & Paneled Adjudicator; EIA coordinator & Functional Area Expert - Water Pollution, Hydrology Municipal Solid Waste Management - accredited by Quality Council of India/MoEFCC, registered with Pondicherry Planning Authority. An Aurovilian since 28.2.2018, Govind started collaborating with the Development Group in 1998, has been associated with several Auroville projects, and was a technical member of the Work Allocation Team (WAT, constituted by the Governing Board), which the TDC dissolved in November 2017. Govind has been performing his assessments with Sathyanarayan Bhambore, an accounts officer in the Auroville Foundation for the past thirty-three years. He also worked for two and half years under IPAI (Institute of Public Auditors of India) for the internal auditing of the Auroville Foundation’s units. Recent assessments by Govind and Sathyanarayan- Out of the massive documentation I have received it emerges: The Governing Board has approved a format for submitting the project proposals but this is not respected. The Auroville Foundation office is actively involved at the beginning (disbursing funds) and at the end (receiving utilization certificates). But as the correct monitoring of the project is not done, these are often not correct and the way the government’s grants are disbursed allows pilferage of nearly 20-25% of funds. Regarding tendering, the Works Manual (SAIIER, updated in 2013) prescribes a threshold of Rs. 1 crore; versus the Auroville Works Manual (FAMC, serving all units of the Auroville Foundation), Rs. 50 lakhs. Conversely, as per GFR 2018 all construction projects above 5 lacs must be tendered. When Work Allocation Team (WAT) under TDC was functional, tender for construction work costing more than 2 crores were called; though largely insufficient still these were better than nothing; but when the TDC abolished WAT, in 2017, even this meager proviso was dropped. As yearly about Rs.15 crores are spent from government’s grants without tenders, while no SAIIER project follows this process, the absence of tendering and competitive technical & price bidding system results in huge monetary loss. As per the development plan of Auroville Master Plan, the civil works are designed by the architectural units of the Auroville Foundation or by external architects. On receiving clearance from the Auroville Town Planning Office the cost estimates are prepared, and the rates are checked, by a professor of Pondicherry Engineering College, PEC (charging ½ % fee of the estimated cost of the project). But certain items of the proposed work and the estimated quantities do not match the ground reality; also, is it appropriate for a civil servant to receive percentages? In Auroville the project holder chooses an architect and afterwards either the project holder or the architect appoints the contractor. Presently, PEC reviews estimates, proposals, checks construction quality, certifies the RA bills and issues a completion certificate based on the Pondicherry Schedule of Rates that, besides being heavily cushioned, is not correct: all grants from the Central Government fall under the Delhi Schedule of Rates (DSR). And on top it is not even PEC that does the work – but a professor and structural engineer there, in his personal capacity, involved in the projects. A few random examples follow: The said PEC professor approved the execution of the first floor, Swagatam Project, for Rs 83 lacs. But after having a close look the contractor agreed to scale it down to 60 lacs, with additional built form. The teacher’s quarter constructed by SAIIER is in excess of above norms, due to which huge amount is spent for lesser number of units. Also, repetitive buildings/blocks are constructed; however, for each block the Architects are paid 3% -- instead of ½% for the repetitive design as the rules command. Infrastructure works executed in Bharat Nivas campus by various Auroville units under the supervision of Aamit Bawa, Govind and Sathyanarayan resulted in 23% savings (Rs.25.53 lakhs). The report Sathyanarayan submitted in May 2019 shows that the Government of India Grant Group is not capable of monitoring such grants, yet no action has been taken. The decision by the aforesaid group to deduct 1% of capital grant disbursed to each project is against GFR. Also, this group’s decision to have an internal audit of the Government of India accounts by a chartered accountant is a waste of governmental funds, as they are not conversant with the rules passed by the Government of India. At the last Governing Board’s meeting re the government’s grants, an architect and FAMC member admitted that none of them is trained to deal with the matter. Toine (a member of the Oversight Committee, constituted in September 2018 by the Governing Board to look into infrastructure, constructions and repairs funded by the Government of India) was requested by Srinivasamurti to take part in a two-member committee to look into “the issues which were highlighted by Mr. Govind Ranjan and Mr. Sathyanarayan” (see attached files). The other member was Dhruv, who first agreed but withdrew just as the work was to commence. Toine has confirmed, among others: Bharat Nivas toilets: Rs. 3,90 lakhs overbilling. Bharat Nivas rain water system: wastage of Rs. 6 lakhs. Bharat Nivas Auditorium (sound proofing and acoustic clouds): doubtful benefit & excessive disbursement of Rs. 1,90 lakhs to be recovered from 3 services providers. SAIIER various buildings: low quality steel billed for the higher price. Not only a financial issue, but also a safety issue. Also, writes Govind, “one of the recent bills approved for Atithi Griha extension in Bharat Nivas campus reflects the items 2 & 3 of scaffolding which can't be approved. By doing so, the contractor is approved / allowed to collect extra money @ 90,000/- for the items of work not even justified. The copy is attached herewith for reference. This item of work is jointly introduced in the year 2017 by me & Gajendran for a specific purpose of Tamil Heritage Project while settling the accounts of contractor but later on, is being promoted in all projects as being approved by Dr Kothandaraman [the PEC professor/engineer]. On bringing this issue to the notice of Mr Srinivasmurthy, he replied that this amount shall be collected back from the contractor but I don't find any system in place who would look after these issues.” The following concerns Isambalaiam school (and the involvement of “dummy PEC for approval of estimates & monitoring of projects”, resulting in a difference of nearly 3.5 lacs in a work of just 21 lacs), taken from an email that Govind wrote to Pashi and Toine (members of the Oversight Committee) on April 28, 2019, and which summarizes the problem; the highlight is mine. Commenting about “the chaotic system of governance created as a deliberate attempt to fullfil personal agenda”, Govind writes: “Sanjeev Ranganathan (another member of the Oversight Committee) seems to be helpless and forced to be satisfied with the achievement of bringing down the projected estimate cost by 5 lacs while I see that there is still a scope to reduce the cost by @ 1.5 lacs. … "…whom to appeal for this change" or we want to wait to take corrective measures to the system of governance until another CAG enquiry starts on all the construction projects. From the GB meeting notes Feb 2019, it is highlighted that the GFR 2017 and cvc norms are to be applied to all the construction projects. Is there any effort being made towards these norms or we will wait for either external authority to tell us how to organise our home or there will come another case like THC [Tamil Heritage Centre] where ignorant project holders will be made responsible for all the unwanted/unexpected troubles of mismanagement of a project.” * In July 2019 Srinivasamurty (the acting secretary and financial officer of the Auroville Foundation) informed Govind that the Oversight Committee requested him and Sathyanarayan to assist their member Ramesh Tulyani. As follow-up of the detailed letter (see attachment n.1) that Govind and Sathyanarayan wrote to the Governing Board and the Working Committee, Madan Gopal (who had been dispatched by the Government of India to investigate corruption, and successively chaired the Enquiry Committee) invited both to join the Governing Board meeting, on September 7, 2019, with the government’s grant group. The Governing Board reconfirmed the role of Satyanarayan as main accountant, with thanks. Yet so far neither was called on duty, and although their detailed accounts of recovery was authenticated by Toine (the most active member of the Oversight Committee) the Bharat Nivas and Saiier trustees closed down the issue without any money refund. Boycotted in Auroville, made to work for free in spite of the agreement and then dismissed as soon as he pointed out severe irregularities with the Bharat Nivas’ repairs, Govind was hired for six month by the Foundation – which at a certain point received the request to overthrow Sathyanarayan as well. This is the dire background, as a professional and as a human being, behind Govind personally meeting the Chairman of the Auroville Foundation in Delhi; as no corrective measure was taken, in spite of the detailed documentation submitted and authenticated, he wrote to Dr. Karan Singh asking him to resign. Please do not commit the error to turn one or the other into scapegoats for what we have ourselves created and for which we carry the full responsibility. EPILOGUE On October 22nd, calling a meeting with members of the RAS and the three Residents Assembly Task Forces, Prof Mohanti (one of the three members of the Enquiry Committee) informed us of severe mismanagement regarding the government’s grants for infrastructure and construction/repair; from the illegal usage of such grants without a tender, to the Pondicherry University engineer who should limit his role to that of civil servant, to faulty material construction, to erroneous calculations and so on. This is how I first learnt about Govind’s and Sathyanarayan’s denunciations, without their names being mentioned. We were also informed about our faulty internal audits, persistently highlighted by the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) in their yearly reports, and that having them signed by the sub-secretary instead of the secretary is an anomaly nowhere accepted; the Governing Board will appoint a Task Force to ensure that the proper procedure is followed. Prof Mohanti repeated the same the next day at a general meeting with the larger community, albeit with less details. PROF MOHANTI ALSO TOLD US THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IS FULLY AWARE, AND ONLY OUT OF RESPECT FOR SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER DOES NOT INTERVENE. BUT IF IT DOES, IT WILL TRY TO RECUPERATE WHAT IT CAN TAXING THE WAGES AND PENSIONS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BOARD, WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE TO THE PARLIAMENT OF INDIA. The challenge now is between the Enquiry Committee who has forwarded the request to the HRD ministry for a Central Investigation at the earliest, and which demands from us merciless self-critic and a radical overturn – versus continuing the status quo, feeding the same forces that have brought us to the verge of dissolution. The same perpetual struggle between the divine and the anti-divine in us rages on. What certain people here fail to notice, attacking all – whistle-blowers, avant-gardes, Enquiry Committee – is that there is no choice. A collective commitment to resolute action is more than ever necessary. May the aspiration, professional training and certified expertise that Govind and faithful Sathyanarayan embody take over, so that we turn the page and a new happy era commences. NOTE. I am attaching some files, by Govind or Satyanarayan or both, delving into the core of the problem.
- Paulette, Aurovillian
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