The Hindu Business Line : CAG faults KWA, Forest Dept

Thiruvananthapuram March 21 The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found fault with the implementation and management of information system of the Kerala Forest Department and the computerised billing and revenue collection system of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA).

The CAG report for the year ended March 31, 2006, which was placed in the State Assembly on Tuesday, says there was undue delay in developing and operationalising the `Forest Management Information System (FMIS)' and `Project Finance Management System (PFMS)' of the Forest Department.

The consultant, who served as FMIS manager, was also entrusted with the development of software for PFMS and FMIS contrary to the provisions of the contract. Though the department incurred an expenditure of Rs 62.45 lakh towards remuneration, it did not benefit from the consultancy for FMIS manager between January 1999 and December 2003.

PROCESS FAILURES

Also, there was no record of adopting a well-defined testing strategy for software. The department had failed in selecting a firm with adequate exposure in Geographic Information System (GIS) and experience in software development, as a result of which FMIS could not be deployed so far.

Consequently, hardware costing Rs 96.08 lakh had been idling with the department, says the report.

In the case of KWA, the report notes that the authority had introduced computerised billing and revenue collection system from 1994, but without formulating an IT strategy. "Failure to conduct timely review of computerisation had resulted in numerous inaccuracies, inadequacies and inconsistencies, but no attempt was made to remove the drawbacks," it has pointed out.

As against a pending demand of Rs 44.1 crore in March 1999 for the entire State, the pending demand for 11 computerised sections covered by the audit stood at Rs 98.66 crore as of March 2005. Delayed replacement of faulty metres caused a recurring annual loss of Rs 14.09 crore, says the report.