The Port Management Board (PMB), Port Blair is illegally operating two defective and unregistered tugs putting its personnel and craft at risk, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said in its report.
The CAG said it had referred the issue to Union Home Ministry in August, 2016, but is yet to receive a reply as of January, 2017.
According to the report for the year ending March 2016, the PMB had entered into an agreement with a contractor Corporated Shipyard Pvt Ltd to acquire two mooring-cum-mini tugs for Rs 2.45 crore in October, 2009.
As per the agreement, the tugs - small powerful boats which are used for towing or pushing ships, barges, etc - were to be delivered by December, 2010.
However, the boats were delivered only in February and September last year, the CAG has observed.
In the report, the auditor also noted that the PMB made "premature" payments of Rs 1.59 crore (65 per cent of the total value) to the contractor concerned till March, 2011.
"Throughout the period PMB failed to monitor the project and held its first review meeting only in March, 2015, more than four years after the scheduled date of delivery," the CAG said.
It observed that instead of penalising the contractor by enforcing liquidated damages, the PMB allowed the contractor to revise the date of delivering tugs to first July, 2015 and later to August, 2015, which it said was also not achieved.
"After Audit raised the issue in January, 2016, the PMB took over one tug, MV Jal Sarathi (in February 2016) and the second tug MV Jal Sahayak (in September 2016) despite deficiencies," CAG noted.
According to the auditor, the deficiencies in respect of the tugs included lesser trial speed and bollard pull, non-supply of spare parts, non-registration of both the tugs under the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Port Rules, among others.
The bollard pull is the maximum pulling capacity that a tug can exert.
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