Audit report flags irregularities in tiger reserve projects in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: A top auditor of the Uttarakhand government has found multiple financial and administrative irregularities in the execution of forest projects including in the state’s two tiger reserves. The state government ordered the audit after a National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) panel confirmed glaring violation of rules to fell trees and allow construction in the Corbett Tiger Reserve in its October 2022 report to the high court.

The 30-page audit report, submitted to the Uttarakhand government earlier this month, mostly focussed on the proposed tiger safari in Pakhro block , which is part of the Buffer Zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), and is CTR director’s administrative control.

The audit said officials started construction work and procurement in connection with the safari in CTR and Lansdowne Forest Divisions without getting statutory approvals and the necessary administrative and financial sanctions.

Also, it said the government hadn’t received the final approval of the Central Zoo Authority under the Wildlife Protection Act/Recognition of Zoo Rules by March 2021 for the construction of the Pakhro Tiger Safari. “Notwithstanding above, the government sanctioned a part of the project (Tiger Bada No 1) in March 2021 but the Field Officers [DFO KTR (divisional forest officer Kalagarh Tiger Reserve) and Director CTR] executed various components of the Tiger Safari project in full or part”.

Similarly, the construction of the safari required approval of the competent authority under Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The final, or stage II approval was received on September 10, 2021. But the officials had started work nine months earlier. “However, actual execution started much earlier in December 2020 and trees in excess of approval /permission by competent authority under FC Act were cut”.

Lawyer and wildlife activist Gaurav Bansal, who approached the Delhi high court against illegal constructions, felling of trees and constructions of approach roads in CTR, said the audit report clearly shows that in the name of tiger conservation and tiger safari within CTR, the then minister and senior officers in a planned manner looted public money.

“Sad part is that despite vigilance inquiry, several top-level officers are roaming free, hence there is a need of investigation by an independent agency like CBI. I request the CM Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami to transfer the case to CBI for the sake of impartiality and fairness in the investigation,” he said.

The report pointed out that under Uttarakhand Procurement Rules 2017 all original and repair works estimated to cost above ₹10 lakh should be executed by the Public Works Organization. “ Since Pakhro Tiger safari project as a whole and many of its components exceeded ₹10 lakh the project and its various components should have been entrusted to a designated Public Works Organization/State PWD. However, this was not done, and instead departmental authorities (KTR Division) executed it without technical competence. Further, the departmental authorities hired an architect on informal /private basis to prepare preliminary detailed project report (DPR).”

The report states that CTR director approved a tender costing ₹253.42 lakh for execution of Tiger Bada number-1 beyond his delegated financial power. “Besides, no agreement was made with the contractor and work order was issued without obtaining security deposit from the contractor.”

Pointing out that the head of department is competent to accept tender for civil works up to ₹60 lakh and the Conservator of Forest up to ₹20 lakh, the report said, “Notwithstanding CTR director accepted multiple tenders more than his delegated financial powers…The total cost of construction of Tiger Bada No 1 was ₹253.42 lakh. Accordingly, the contractor should have been paid not more than the agreed lump sum cost of ₹253.42 lakh. However, the contractor has been actually paid ₹333.31 lakh i.e an undue benefit of ₹79.89 lakh”

“On review of timelines, we found that planning (administrative, financial, and statutory approvals), execution (tendering and construction of Tiger Safari components), site visits by senior functionaries and briefing to senior functionaries in forest headquarters and secretariat was going on parallelly whereas these processes should occur in a sequence (administrative, financial and statutory approvals, technical sanction, tendering and award of work, site clearance, construction and concurrent monitoring and quality control). This is indicative of collusion amongst functionaries at all levels in complete disregard of financial rules and statutory regime”, the report added

The report pointed out that no administrative, financial, technical, and statutory approvals were obtained by the division/department before the commencement of Tiger Safari work and other works in the vicinity of Tiger Safari. On two generators procured by KTR DFO, the report states, “One generator was installed at Doon Institute of Medical Science, Dehradun (a private institute run by son of the then forest minister) and at Meerawati Filling Station, village Nepali Farm, Hindrawala, Rishikesh. The division had paid ₹15.40 lakh for procurement of the above generators”

On the nexus between departmental officers and the contractors, the report pointed out that forest divisions were using same set of contractors over a period for different types of activities (civil work, supply of goods, removal of lantana) and without open/competitive bidding. “This is an indicator of collusion amongst divisional officers and the contractors”.

In KTR, the report states, instances show that the division was involved in creating records fraudulently and manipulating tendering process in collusion with contractors. “In other words, financial indiscipline was rampant without any fear of superiors, oversight, and public scrutiny through Right to Information”, it added.

On abuse of Corbett Tiger Reserve Foundation by the then forest minister, who is its ex officio chairman, the report said, “Forest minister is provided vehicle from estate department of the state. Still a rented vehicle for the Chairman, Tiger Conservation Foundation was hired and incurred expenditure of ₹14.96 lakh. Forest minister appointed Rakesh Kandah / Shri Pawan Bhatt as his representative granting him ₹ 0.50 lakh per month as honorarium without any provision in guidelines/rules and no evidence of any role played by them was provided by the division. This resulted in irregular payment of ₹ 16.50 lakh to the two individuals. Chairman Tiger Conservation Foundation directed CTR director to pay ₹10 lakh to an NGO.”

When contacted, former forest minister Harak Singh Rawat said he had no knowledge of the audit report. “I can comment only after I see the report”

When contacted, Rahul (who goes by his first name), former CTR Corbett director, said, “As the matter is sub-judice in various courts, so am not in a position to comment on this report right now.”

The report pointed out that under Uttarakhand Procurement Rules 2017 all original and repair works estimated to cost above rupees ten lakh should be executed by the Public Works Organization. “ Since Pakhro Tiger safari project as a whole and many of its components exceeded rupees ten lakh the project and its various components, should have been entrusted to a designated Public Works Organization/State PWD. However, this was not done, and instead departmental authorities (KTR Division) executed it without technical competence. Further, the departmental authorities hired an Architect on informal /private basis to prepare Preliminary Detailed Project Report”.

The report states that Director C I R approved the lump sum tender costing ₹ 253.42 lakh1 for execution of Tiger Bada number-1 beyond his delegated financial power. “Besides, no agreement was made with the contractor and work order was issued without obtaining security deposit from the contractor”

Pointing out that the Head of Department is competent to accept tender for civil works upto ₹60.00 lakh and the Conservator of Forest upto ₹20.00 lakh, the report said, “Notwithstanding Director CTR accepted multiple tenders more than his delegated financial powers…The total cost of construction of Tiger Bada No 1 was Rs. 253.42 lakh. Accordingly, the contractor should have been paid not more than the agreed lump sum cost of ₹253.42 lakh. However, the contractor has been actually paid Rs. 333.31 lakh i.e an undue benefit of ₹79.89 lakh”

“On review of timelines, we found that planning (administrative, financial, and statutory approvals), execution (tendering and construction of Tiger Safari components), site visits by senior functionaries and briefing to senior functionaries in Forest headquarters and Secretariat was going on parallelly whereas these processes should occur in a sequence (administrative, financial and statutory approvals, technical sanction, tendering and award of work, site clearance, construction and concurrent monitoring and quality control). This is indicative of collusion amongst functionaries at all levels in complete disregard of financial rules and statutory regime”, the report added

The report pointed out that no administrative, financial, technical, and statutory approvals were obtained by the division/department before the commencement of Tiger Safari work and other works in the vicinity of Tiger Safari. On two generators procured by DFO KTR, the report states that “one generator was installed at Doon Institute of Medical Science, Dehradun (a private institute run by son of the then Forest Minister) and at Meerawati Filling Station, village Nepali Farm, Hindrawala, Rishikesh. The division had paid ₹ 15.40 lakh for procurement of the above generators”

On the nexus between Departmental Officers and the contractors, the report pointed out that Forest divisions were using same set of contractors over a period of time for different types of activities (civil work, supply of goods, removal of lantana) and without open/competitive bidding. This is an indicator of collusion amongst divisional officers and the contractors”.

In KTR, the report states, instances show that the division was involved in creating records fraudulently and manipulating tendering process in collusion with contractors. “In other words, there financial indiscipline was rampant without any fear of superiors, oversight, and public scrutiny through Right to Information”, it added.

In the case of Lansdowne Forest Division, located between the Corbett Tiger Reserve and the Rajaji Tiger Reserve, 29 works related to flood protection, elephant protection walls, and soil conservation were executed in three ranges of the division without obtaining administrative, financial or technical approvals

On abuse of Corbett Tiger Reserve Foundation by the then Forest Minister, who is its ex officio chairman, the report said, “Forest Minister of the state is provided vehicle from Estate Department of the state. Still a rented vehicle for the Chairman Tiger Conservation Foundation was hired and incurred expenditure of ₹ 14.96 lakh. Forest Minister appointed Shri Rakesh Kandah / Shri Pawan Bhatt as his representative granting him ₹ 0.50 lakh per month as honorarium without any provision in the guidelines/rules and no evidence of any role played by them was provided by the division. This resulted in irregular payment of ₹ 16.50 lakh to the said two individuals. Chairman Tiger Conservation Foundation directed Director CTR to pay ₹ 10.00 lakh to an NGO”

When contacted, former forest minister Harak Singh Rawat said he had no knowledge of the audit report. “I can comment only after I see the report”

When contacted, Rahul (who goes by his first name), former CTR Corbett director said as the matter is under sub-judice in various courts, “So am not in a position to comment on this report right now”

Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), Kalagarh Tiger Reserve (KTR) and Lansdowne Forest Divisions.

A report of the Principal Accountant General (Audit) Uttarakhand has found gross financial irregularities in various projects worth over ₹ 78 crores in which payment of over 17 crores was made in Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), Kalagarh Tiger Reserve (KTR) and Lansdowne Forest Divisions. The audit report has been submitted to the state government earlier this month.

Earlier a committee of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had found glaring felling of trees, making of roads and raising of constructions in Corbett Tiger Reserve, following which the state government last year requested Principal Accountant General (Audit) Uttarakhand for audit.