The Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) on Friday in its latest report tabled in the parliament has pulled up the IAF for an 'unfruitful' expenditure of Rs155 crore for developing an Electronic Warfare system aimed at enhancing capability of the Russian-origin MiG-27 fighter aircraft.
The CAG, has also raised serious questions about the maintainability of runways at the Indo-China border to carry out fighter operations. In its scrutiny of ten runways, the auditors have concluded that three runways are not fit enough for fighter operations due to poor maintenance.
The CAG has said the India-Israel joint venture project for developing the system 'Takshak' was injudicious as it was sanctioned in 2009 by the force despite knowing that the MiG-27s would start getting phased out by 2016. "Due to injudicious decision and delay in development of 'Takshak' system, the objective of enhancing operational capability of a fighter aircraft could not be achieved. Besides, an expenditure of Rs 155.79 crore incurred on the project was rendered unfruitful," the report said.
The report said that delays in the programme, the IAF during trials found that it was not fully developed and could not meet a large number of technical specifications.
"The IAF also acknowledged that induction of the 'Takshak' system in MiG-27 fleet would take at least another three years (from 2011) and complete fleet modification would be over only by 2016 whereas the MiG-27 aircraft fleet was planned to be phased out of service from 2014 onwards.
"Therefore, it decided to foreclose the project since it was not possible to operationally exploit this system on the aircraft. An expenditure of Rs155.79 crore had already been incurred on the project till then (January 2013)," the report said.
CAG raps IAF for buying expensive Scorpio, Innova SUVs: The Air Force was rapped by the CAG for irregularities in procurement of more than 100 expensive Mahindra Scorpio and Toyota Innova vehicles against the procurement provisions to replace existing ones. "We observe that in contravention of the extant orders, Air Force headquarters had introduced between 2009 and 2011 two new types of vehicles, Mahindra Scorpio and Toyota Innova to replace the Maruti Gypsy and Tata Sumo respectively," the government auditor said in its report tabled in parliament.
CAG chides IAF for grounding of AN-32 transport planes: The Air Force was chided by CAG for an avoidable expenditure of Rs227 crore modernisation programme of its 105 Soviet-origin An-32 transport aircraft and the grounding of over 50 per cent of the fleet due to delay in creating upgrade facilities. In its report tabled in Lok Sabha, the CAG said IAF procured 17 engines in 2007 and 100 engines in 2009 for the Antonv-32 transport fleet. "IAF had paid USD 719,500 (Rs3.16 crore) per engine against the contract of June 2007, whereas, it had to pay USD 10,90,000 (Rs5.43 crore) per engine against the contract of December 2009. Thus, IAF had to incur a total of Rs 227 crore extra on procurement of 100 aero-engines," it said.
CAG finds fault with Railways' PPP projects execution: Finding fault with railways' PPP projects execution, the CAG has observed that the national transporter failed to adhere to standard procedures and rules were violated in selection of private players. The CAG in its latest report has found that faulty assessment was made on internal rate of return (IRR), project approvals were marred by delays and there was lack of any monitoring mechanism for these projects. The audit body found that railways did not formulate any model agreement for execution of the projects within the stipulated time frame, nor did it adopt the model prescribed by the Planning Commission for PPP projects in infrastructure sector.
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