Aizawl: Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found that Mizoram Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation (UD&PA) Department extended undue favour to a consultant-contractor, in violation of rules, while constructing a multi-level car park-cum-multi-utility centre at Zodin Square.The audit flagged excess expenditure of Rs 99 lakh and said delays rendered expenditure of Rs 8.06 crore idle.The project received administrative approval and expenditure sanction of Rs 25 crore on Oct 12, 2017, under New Economic Development Programme for 2017-18.The department had invited an architectural design competition. Six parties participated, and M/s JMT Architects, Zarkawt, Aizawl, was declared the winner. The guidelines did not provide for appointment of the winner as a consultant or contractor.However, without inviting expressions of interest or obtaining prior permission required under a finance department memorandum dated Dec 6, 2010, the department signed an agreement with JMT Architects on Sept 11, 2017, appointing it as consultant to prepare the project report and provide consultancy services for Rs 45 lakh.The department issued a work order to JMT Architects, without inviting tenders and in violation of a Finance Department notification dated Sept 8, 2016, for installing a robotic car-parking system at a cost of Rs 8.95 crore. The audit said the action amounted to undue favour.The firm prepared a DPR for parking 113 cars at an estimated cost of Rs 8.99 crore. The work was scheduled for completion by Sept 21, 2021.In its Dec 11, 2024 response, the department said materials and equipment were delivered in June 2019 and installation was completed on June 29, 2024. However, the system remained untested and uncommissioned as of Nov 2024 because power-supply arrangements, including a transformer, were incomplete.The audit attributed delay to inadequate coordination and deficient planning, saying expenditure remained unproductive.
