PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Bharadisain
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has indicted the Dehradun Smart City Limited (DSCL) for financial mismanagement and other irregularities. In its report tabled by the State government in the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday, the CAG has found irregularities amounting to Rs 5.19 crore in project management consultant (PMC) payments for remuneration claims and implementation of the ‘Cities Investment to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain Project’. It also found violation of procurement rules and reimbursement without records. The CAG report said that the PMC’s manpower deployment was contrary to the terms of the contract, resulting in unverified and invalid payments, thereby weakening financial integrity.
The report further finds that many smart solutions mentioned in the DPR were either removed during implementation itself or were non-functional due to inadequate planning and implementation. It said that the biometric and sensor based Solid Waste Management (SWM) module, developed in March 2022 for real-time monitoring of the entire waste collection process under the e-governance solution of the Doon Integrated Command and Control Centre project, remained unutilised till February 2025, rendering an expenditure of Rs 4.55 crore useless.
The report also indicts DSCL for non-operation of e-rickshaws procured at a cost of Rs 90 lakh under the Smart Waste Vehicle project for about two years.
The CAG report mentions that the smart solutions installed at a cost of Rs 5.91 crore in three government schools in Dehradun under the Smart School project ( interactive boards, computer labs, projectors, e-content, CCTV and biometric attendance) remained non-functional due to the inability of schools to bear excessive electricity bills.
The report mentions that DSCL was unable to provide liability free work sites to the executing agencies, resulting in delays of 19 months to 38 months in the completion of eight projects. It said that the DSCL failed to recover unutilised funds amounting to Rs 19.06 crore from executing agencies.
It is worth mentioning here that Dehradun was the only city selected under the Smart City Mission of the government of India.
The CAG conducted its audit in 2023-24 covering the period from 2018-23.
The report advises that the State government should address operational deficiencies in the project.
