Of the 9,20,102 data SIM cards supplied under the State government’s scheme to help students attend online classes during COVID-19, 1,10,846 remained undistributed, the Compliance audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for the year ended March 2022, tabled in the Assembly, on Wednesday said.
In January 2021, the government accorded administrative sanction for the procurement of 9.69 lakh data SIM cards for supplying to students studying in institutions coming under the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE) (6.12 lakh cards) and Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) (93.58 lakh cards).
The data SIM cards were to provide 2 GB of data per day for four months from January-April 2021 and the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT) was the procuring agency. The State released ₹43.16 crore to ELCOT in March 2021 for implementing the scheme.
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu launched the distribution of 4G data SIM card in February 2021 and the cards were distributed to students over a period of three months from February-April 2021.
The network service providers supplied a total of 9,20,102 data SIM cards to the nominated nodal officers in all districts, who, in turn, distributed the cards to the principals of colleges for distribution to the students. The CAG’s audit noted that of the 9,20,102 data SIM cards supplied, as of April 2022, 1,10,846 (DCE-60,495 and DTE-50,351) remained undistributed with the Nodal Officers/colleges.
Sampled colleges said that due to lockdown, students did not return to colleges to collect the cards.
In its reply in January 2023, government had accepted the audit’s observation on non-delivery of activated data SIM cards and said that it came to know of the issue only after it was pointed out by audit. However, no action was proposed to remedy the lapses, the CAG said.
The audit further observed that the Higher Education Department failed to adhere to the decision made to procure SIM cards only for students not having the data connections and, thus, failed to assess the requirement correctly, which resulted in excess procurement of data SIM cards and causing avoidable expenditure of ₹4.93 crore on 1.11 lakh undistributed SIM cards.
The State government in its reply said some students did not come forward to receive their SIM cards because of pandemic-related reasons, however it was silent on the non-adherence to the decision to procure the cards only for students who did not possess such cards, CAG said.
It also pointed out that 3.11 lakh data SIM cards were supplied and activated only during March-April 2021, thereby the four-month validity of these cards overlapped with the summer vacation of colleges which happens during May/June in the State.
The non-synchronisation of the SIM card activation period with the academic calendar resulted in an avoidable expenditure of ₹3.46 crore incurred towards data charges for one month on 3.11 lakh data SIM cards during June 2021, the CAG said.
ELCOT recovered ₹1.05 crore in liquidated damages/penalties and did not refund it to the government till date. It procured only 9.20 lakh cards, out of the 9.69 lakh cards, and retained the balance of ₹2.21crore for more than a year, it added.
The audit recommended inquiry into the circumstances leading to excess procurement and State government to refund ₹3.26 crore retained by it.
CAG also pointed out to lapses in free coaching classes offered by School Education Department for competitive exams like NEET and JEE.
Under the scheme, coaching was provided to a total of 73,885 students during the year 2018 and 2019. From 2020, the Directorate of School Education did not conduct classes as the service provider Sai Speed Medical Institute Pvt Ltd. exited from providing coaching on issues relating to settlement of bills and no effort was made to engage another service provider, the CAG added.
Non-adherence to due process in selection of service provider and failure to sign an agreement with payment terms and measures to enforce the agreement had resulted in the service provider existing in mid-way leading to non-continuation of the coaching after 2019, it added.
This had resulted in idling of infrastructure established for the purpose and non-achievement of the scheme objective led to infructuous expenditure of ₹2.12 crore on procurement of hardware, which were not utilised and an avoidable additional expenditure of ₹2.15 crore on procurement of books published by a different agency, the CAG added.
The enrolment of students reduced significantly from 54,066 in 2018 to 19,819 in 2019 and the percentage of students who cleared the exam after availing the coaching was very low. This indicates that the coaching did not have significant impact on the results of the examination, the report pointed out.
The audit further said that the government must order an investigation and proceed against those involved in bid rigging through cartelisation in procurement of school uniforms for 2021-22.
It resulted in avoidable expenditure of ₹4.81 crore and the Commissioner of School Education and Director if Elementary Education failed to effectively monitor the scheme, which resulted in blocking of unspent balances of ₹33.23 crore in bank account, it added.
The audit report also pointed out lapses in Water Resources, Social Welfare and Women Empowerment, Fisheries, Health and Revenue Department, among others.
