Funds down the drain? CAG slams govt over failed flood model | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: In its audit report tabled during the ongoing winter session of the state legislature in Belagavi, the CAG revealed that the two-year project, which cost nearly Rs 2 crore, failed to generate any usable data or deliver a functional flood forecasting system. Terming the outcome as “zero output,” the audit recommended a probe to ascertain the reasons behind the project’s failure. Launched in March 2019, the Rs 2.3-crore urban flood model project, funded by the department of science and technology, was implemented by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).A total of Rs 1.8 crore was released between 2018 and 2020, including Rs 16.7 lakh for installing 25 telemetric weather stations and four ultrasonic water-level sensors in the limits of the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). However, the audit report revealed that Rs 1.6 crore was spent – nearly 90% on staff salaries – without achieving any of the objectives by Dec 2023. KSNDMC did not have records of the locations where equipment was installed or the data generated. Non-functional sensorsIn March 2021, KSNDMC undertook a separate project to strengthen BBMP’s flood early-warning system, funded by Rs 2.4 crore from the State Disaster Response Fund. The project involved installing 105 water-level sensors —100 on stormwater drains and five in flood-prone streets — at a cost of Rs 1.1 crore. The installation was completed in Jan 2022, but the audit found that 49 of the 100 sensors were non-functional, and no information was available on the five street-level sensors. KSNDMC said some sensors were removed by BBMP and others were stolen due to lack of security. The audit also flagged irregularities in the purchase of 25 large display screens (65-inch TVs) procured at a cost of Rs 32.7 lakh to display water levels in the stormwater drains. Of these, three were sent to Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad and Mangaluru, six were distributed to deputy commissioners of districts outside Bengaluru, two were installed in the office of the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority commissioner, and four were used by KSNDMC. The remaining 10 screens, worth Rs 13.1 lakh, were lying idle. The CAG noted that records did not explain why equipment for Bengaluru was diverted elsewhere. Similar shortcomings were observed in Smart City projects in Mangaluru, Belagavi, and Hubballi-Dharwad, where KSNDMC spent Rs 1.5 crore to install telemetric rain gauges, weather stations, water-level sensors, and IP cameras. The audit found that 69 of the 184 installations (37.5%) were non-functional as of Dec 2023. The CAG concluded that these lapses reflected negligence in project execution, equipment maintenance and data collection by the KSNDMC, leaving Bengaluru and other cities vulnerable without a comprehensive flood forecasting and alert system.
