Gandhinagar: The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) tabled in Gujarat Assembly on Wednesday has blamed exceptional delays in implementation of salinity ingress prevention programmes, which has led to cost escalation of 355% and resulted into further aggravation of the problem. The delays listed out include limited or no action on establishment of a trialcum-demonstration (TCD) farm, coastal land reclamation, gully plugging or building small dams and the slow pace of afforestation.

The CAG report reads:

The audit observed that except in case of check dams and recharge wells, progress on works was very slow even 25 to 39 years after the acceptance of the report of the HLC (high level committee) by the Gujarat government. Even the plan document, detailed project report and budget estimates were not prepared for these activities. Against the original cost of Rs 789.12 crore estimated by the HLCs, expenditure of Rs 1,045.65 crore was incurred up to March 2017. For the remaining works, the estimate was revised to Rs 2,544.79 crore. Thus, due to the delay in implementation of the recommended works, the cost of the scheme escalated by 355%. The groundwater legislation recommended by the HLC in 1978 has not been enacted till March 2017.

In respect of three works of tidal regulators (TR) it was noticed that the works were awarded without acquisition of the required land, resulting in the works remaining incomplete till March 2017 and expenditure of Rs 11.1 crore rendered unfruitful.

The HLCs suggested stopping of tidal ingress into the land by constructing TRs near the mouths of the rivers to seal them. However, it was noticed that six TRs were constructed beyond the tidal reach of sea water. Hence, the sea water would still intrude and the Bandharas would not serve the purpose of prevention of sea water ingress but would only act as a check dam for creation of a sweetwater reservoir.

There was wasteful expenditure of Rs 25.77 crore on bandharas because of land acquisition hurdles. The CAG observed, “The groundwater quality in salinity affected areas are chemically analysed on the basis of total dissolved solids (TDS) and the ratio of chloride to carbonate plus bi-carbonate content in the water. Compared to May 2012, in all the number of wells under the fresh water category have reduced in May 2016.