Fun and Games over: OC to stay put, CAG to report in 90 days

Published>Mon, Oct 18 10 09:17 PM

Now that the last sportsperson has left Delhi after a good Commonwealth Games, the searchlight is firmly on the allegations of corruption that ran the last lap to the event.

The Group of Ministers on the CWG, in an unprecedented move, decided not to wind up the CWG Organising Committee and has extended its tenure indefinitely to facilitate the probe.

On the other hand, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Monday said it will complete within three months a "comprehensive" audit of the projects.

The report will be confidential and submitted only to the Parliament, CAG Vinod Rai said.

"We will complete the entire audit process of CWG in three months. It is going to be a gigantic task. At least 20 different organisations will be involved," he said addressing auditors that included some from abroad.

"If we take six to eight months time and submit the report in 2012, then the entire purpose of exercise would be lost. We will ensure that results of the audit are made available at the earliest. It is not only about the expenditures incurred," he said.

The CAG said while auditing they would have to see whether the original activity or the objective has been fulfilled.

He said it would be a comprehensive audit which would cover all institutions involved in the Games. "Ours will be a report which will be shared only with the Parliament," he said while addressing the 97th international training programme on auditing in an IT environment.

The CAG is vetting the expenditures incurred in different Commonwealth Games related projects.

The audit by the CAG teams began in the middle of August. However, it was halted between September 24 and October 14 in view of the Games.

Meanwhile, the Group of Ministers on CWG met for the first time on Monday when it decided to extend the tenure of the Organising Committee till further orders.

"Senior officials made available to the Organising Committee by the government of India will be allowed to continue till further orders," Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy told reporters after the meeting of the Group of Ministers on the CWG.

The Sports Ministry will decide when to wind up the Organising Committee.

The GoM was attended by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and CWG Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who are locked in a war of words over the corruption in the Games, besides Sports Minister M S Gill.

Replying to a volley of questions, Reddy insisted the GoM did not discuss allegations of corruption.

"In our system we have our own agencies which will leisurely do their job diligently... The Prime Minister has taken the right decision (by setting up a probe panel)," he said.

He said the GoM expressed satisfaction over the successful conduct of the CWG and thanked the people of India as well as the people of Delhi for the "wholehearted support and contribution" in making the event a success.

Reddy, however, chose not to be driven into the controversy over Dikshit and Kalmadi attacking each other over allegations of corruption. "I don't have any right to advise any member," he said.

While Dikshit remarked that the "suspicion" of corruption was on the Games Organising Committee (OC), Kalmadi hit back at her statement saying it was "most disappointing and uncalled for" and that she must indulge in self-reflection on corruption in her own departments.

Source: Web Search