After the Commonwealth Games of 2010, now it's the turn of the Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 held under the Chairmanship of Mr Suresh Kalmadi to face public scrutiny.

The Public Accounts Committee of Maharashtra Legislature has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to submit its audit report on the games expenditure. The CAG is making a special audit report on the games.

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Mr Girish Bapat, told reporters on Monday that about Rs 450 crore were jointly spent by the Centre and Maharashtra for the games, which were held between October 12 and 18, 2008 in Pune.

A number of violations in the organising the games have been found, Mr Bapat said. “I don't want to say more on that. Let the CAG reports be tabled in the Legislature first.”

Of the Rs 450 crore, about 30 per cent came from the Centre in the form of funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, while the rest of the money was given the State government. The committee is keenly following up the matter, he said.

Tata Power

In a separate development, the Public Accounts Committee in its sixth report, which was placed in the Legislative Assembly today, has recommended that the surplus electricity from Tata Power Company be made available to the Mumbai consumers instead of selling it outside Maharashtra.

The committee said that even though Tata Power has the right under the law to sell its power anywhere in the country, as a matter of social responsibility, it should after meeting the needs of its customers make available surplus electricity to Mumbai consumers.

The committee has also recommended that the State government make it binding on power companies to first fulfil the power demands of Mumbai city and sell power outside the State only after that. If required, a new provision in the law should be made to ensure compliance from the companies, it said.

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