The Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Tourism Ministry was launched despite “objection of the Planning Commission/Ministry of Finance” and the ministry “did not act” upon the recommendation of a committee to formulate an umbrella scheme by merging the projects having overlapping objectives, a CAG report has found. The Performance Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Swadesh Darshan Scheme, covering the period from its inception in January 2015 to March 2022, was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, according to an official statement.
The Swadesh Darshan Scheme, launched in January 2015 with an initial outlay of INR 500 crore, is a central sector flagship scheme of the Tourism Ministry for the development of tourism infrastructure in the country.
The ministry identified 15 tourist circuits for development under the Scheme, namely Himalayan circuit, North East circuit, Krishna circuit, Buddhist circuit, Coastal circuit, Desert circuit, Tribal circuit, Eco circuit, Wildlife circuit, Rural circuit, Spiritual circuit, Ramayana circuit, Heritage circuit, Tirthankar circuit and Sufi circuit.
According to the CAG’s statement, the ministry sanctioned a total of 76 projects (15 circuits) during the period from 2014-15 to 2018-19 at a sanctioned cost of INR 5,455.69 crore.
The performance audit was conducted to derive an assurance that the tourist circuits were identified, prioritised and planned as per the scheme design and objectives; the identified projects in the tourist circuits were executed in an efficient, effective and coordinated manner; and there was proper monitoring and impact assessment of the scheme, it said.
A sample of 14 projects (related to 10 tourist circuits) from 13 states out of a total of 76 projects (15 circuits) was selected for detailed examination during the performance audit.
“The audit found that the Ministry launched the scheme despite objection of the Planning Commission/Ministry of Finance and did not act upon the recommendation of the Standing Finance Committee to formulate an umbrella scheme by merging the schemes having overlapping objectives. As a result, there was overlapping of scope across various schemes implemented by the Ministry,” the statement said.
Most of these schemes were still ongoing in 2021-22. Thus, the objective of the government to contain the proliferation and rationalisation of schemes was not achieved, it said.
“After launching the Scheme with an initial outlay of INR 500 crore, the Ministry continued to sanction projects and the amount sanctioned had exceeded INR 4,000 crore by 2016-17. The Ministry sanctioned funds without obtaining approval of the Cabinet, which was necessary for sanctioning projects costing above INR 1,000 crore,” the statement said.
The project has been “physically completed”, the government informed Parliament on Monday. To a query in the Lok Sabha seeking details of infrastructure development proposed by the government for “the large number of domestic and foreign tourists who will be visiting Ayodhya Ram Temple after its inauguration”, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy also shared details of the work undertaken as part of this project in the temple town.
The CAG in its report has also flagged other shortcomings in planning the Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
“There was lack of proper planning on the part of the Ministry as it did not ensure preparation of national or state level plan before launching the Scheme. After the launch of the Scheme also, it did not ensure preparation of Detailed Perspective Plans (DPP) for 14 out of 15 tourist circuits/themes, which were to form the basis of selection of projects and preparation of Detailed Project Reports. Thus, the Ministry did not have any long-term vision/policy for implementing the Scheme,” it added.
The ministry “did not pay adequate attention to the development of the Rural circuit”. As on March 31, 2022, the total expenditure incurred under rural circuit was only INR 30.84 crore, which constituted only 0.73 per cent of the total expenditure incurred under the scheme, the statement said.
Besides, the ministry “did not play an active role” in the identification of projects and relied on the state governments for identification of projects and preparation of Detailed Project Reports.
However, many project proposals were submitted by the state governments “without any proper identification criteria or prioritisation”, the statement said, adding instances were noticed where the “projects did not meet the criteria of a tourist circuit”.
The CAG also found that a large number of sites and components had been chosen for the implementation of the scheme.
There were 910 sites and 6,898 components in 243 districts under 76 projects sanctioned under the scheme, despite dropping of a large number of components. As a result, the ministry/state governments “could not pay adequate attention to all the sites, resulting in delay in obtaining timely clearances and award of works, lack of adequate monitoring, site inspection and change/dropping of components etc,” it added.
Also, the Tourism Ministry “did not develop a formal mechanism” for evaluation and approval of projects. While 18 months to 36 months had been given to the state governments/UTs to complete the projects, “the Ministry itself kept the project proposals pending for up to six years in few cases without any action as it did not have a defined timeline for approval or rejection of project proposals”, the statement said.
The ministry did not issue instructions to the states for opening of separate bank accounts for more than five-and-a-half years since the launch of the scheme. As a result, many state governments did not open interest-bearing accounts, thus “causing loss of interest to the exchequer”, the report said.
“There was undue benefit to contractors amounting to INR 19.73 crore on account of irregular payment to contractors and grant of mobilisation advance. Further, the state governments incurred wasteful/excess/unfruitful/inadmissible expenditure of INR 51.56 crore from the Scheme funds,” it added.
Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah said that the state cabinet had decided to provide subsidies on bank loans to purchase vehicles for government employees, to send recommendations to the centre to list the state-listed OBC communities in the centre list adding that the, the Tourism Information Officer and Assistant Tourism Information Officer will be designated as Tourism Development Officer and Assistant Tourism Development Officer.
The audit also found that out of 76 projects sanctioned by the ministry, “no project was completed within the stipulated time frame”. In selected 14 projects, it was noticed that eight projects were completed with delays ranging from 22 months to 47 months and six projects were yet to be completed, despite considerable delay, it said.
The CAG’s report also flagged that the ministry did not take necessary steps to ensure that the state governments carried out proper operation and maintenance of created assets in a sustainable manner.
There was a “significant time gap” between the meetings of Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee and the Mission Directorate. No meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee and the Mission Directorate was held after November 2018 and October 2019, respectively, the statement said.
“There was no mechanism in the Ministry to ensure the correctness of project data submitted by the state governments/implementing agencies,” it said.
The statement also said that the ministry “did not act upon the recommendations of the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture made from time to time relating to the Scheme”.
Further, the ministry agreed upon the recommendations of Expenditure Finance Committee on the scheme but “did not comply with the same”. As a result, the issues raised by the committees persisted, it said.
n a review meeting of the forest department late on Monday, Sukhu directed the officials to prioritise these projects to benefit the state’s people. Noting the approval for the proposed international standard zoological park at Bankhandi in Kangra district, the chief minister called for immediate preparatory action to commence its construction.
