Civil Secretariat Furniture purchased but building still incomplete

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Feb 22: Furniture items worth Rs 14.77 crore were purchased for the Civil Secretariat but they have not been used yet as the construction work of the Civil Secretariat is still incomplete even after several years.
A report published by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India  pointed out that there was no proper planning in purchasing the furniture items and there was no immediate requirement for them.
The CAG report also points out lackadaisical attitude of Works Department with regard to the construction of the Civil Secretariat  at Mantripukhri which is a part of the Capital Project.
Works Department entrusted the work of cons- tructing the Civil Secretariat to M/S Simplex Projects Private Ltd in 2010. Its estima- ted cost was Rs 282.60 crore and the construction work should be completed within three years.  
However, the project has not been completed yet and its stipulated period of completion has been extended several times.
Till February last year, the stipulated period of completing the project had been extended 12 times.
Even though the contractor did not seek permission of extension of the stipulated period of completion, the department has been giving permission to extend the completion deadlines from time to time.
Although the department asked the contractor to complete the project sooner, no penalty was ever awarded to the contractor for delaying the project for such a long period, mentioned the CAG report.
It said that the department has already released Rs 262.36 crore to the contractor.
So far, construction work of the Civil Secretariat has been completed by 80 per cent while the financial progress stands at 93 per cent.
The CAG reports says that the department has released bill in excess of the liability owed to the contractor.
The department issued an order in March 2016 for supplying 6,692 furniture items for a total cost of Rs 14.77 crore.
As per the order, one firm supplied 6600 furniture items in August 2016 and January 2017, and Rs 14.77 crore was paid to the firm, according to the CAG report.
Physical verification found that the supplied furniture items are being kept in 74 rooms of the incomplete Civil Secretariat building all these years, the report added.