 "Delhi govt begins special audit of Jal Board amid agency's rising debt")
The Delhi government has begun a special audit of the DJB amid the water works agency's rising debt and shrinking revenues, sources said on Tuesday.
The Finance department of the Delhi government conducting the special audit will also look into alleged instances of fund diversion by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) from capital heads to other works, they said.
The audit will find out how a corpus of Rs 12, 712 crore provided in the last five years was utilised by the DJB even as its debt has soared to around Rs 70,000 crore from over Rs 26,000 crore in 2018, sources said.
The DJB, apart from production and distribution of water and disposal of sewerage, also looks after Yamuna cleaning in the city. It is currently executing various projects worth Rs 18,000 crore, official sources said.
They said it has come to knowledge that the DJB in the past diverted funds under capital heads to meet its pending bills for various projects. Out of Rs 1,557 crore provided to it this year for various works, Rs 750 crore was used to meet pending liabilities, sources said.
In August, Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had said in the Assembly that several projects of the Delhi Jal Board were stuck due to a paucity of funds with the finance department officers obstructing money to the department.
"During the Covid pandemic, metre readers did not go and bills were not generated. In some cases, where bills were generated, they were not paid. Despite that, the DJB was functioning and salaries were being paid. The recurring expenses were paid using capital money. This amounted to Rs 1,500 crore," he had said.
More From This Section
Bhardwaj had also said that the DJB urged the finance department for Rs 2,000 crore for different important works but the file was sent back arguing that only Rs 500 crore would be given as Rs 1,500 crore was already showing in the Delhi Jal Board's account.
He had explained the financial condition of the DJB, saying its budget amounted to Rs 4,839 crore but earnings were around Rs 1,200 crore and that obviously was the reason for accumulating debt.