The city corporation preferred vitrified floor tiles and mirror-finished marble stone to essential items like drainage and water supply in the modern fish market at Palayam rendering it unusable by all means, as per the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on general and social sector which was tabled in the assembly on Tuesday. The report points out lapses on the part of the corporation while constructing a modern fish market at Palayam. According to the audit report, the market was constructed without proper investigation and without co-relating the design with the requirements of the vendors. This resulted in non-utilization of the modern fish market which was constructed spending Rs 23 lakh. Even the basic aspects like seating facility and vending space were compromised and in the end there wasn’t sufficient width between the tables and the space was insufficient for seating arrangement. “While revising the estimate, the corporation had deleted essential items like plumbing works, water supply, etc, and included non-essential items like replacing ceramic with vitrified tiles for floor, changing the surface of fish vending table from kota stone to mirror finished marble stone, etc.
This led to a situation where the fish market was completed without provision for drainage, water, etc, which was essential for normal hygienic operation and maintenance of the fish market,” the report said. It also flags the lapse on the part of the executive engineer who, according to the audit report, failed to verify the actual work done before effecting the payment and resulted in an overpayment of Rs 4.1 lakh to the contractor. The audit findings were confirmed by the state government and it was found that the estimate was technically defective. The contractor had refunded an amount of Rs 3.6 lakhs in 2018, following the state government’s direction to the city corporation. The CAG remarked that local self-government institutions may ensure that utilities being created are designed to meet the requirements of end users and the constructed utilities possess all required facilities.
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