One To Five Year Delays In Building Infrastructure To Secure Naval Ports: CAG

The Cabinet Committee on Security's approval in February 2009 to beef up the security of all coastal and offshore naval assets within three years in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks was “diluted” due to delays in creating the enabling framework, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

According to the report by the CAG, Fast Interception Crafts (FICs) were inducted into the Sagar Prahari Bal (SPB) with a delay of 13 to 61 months and the infrastructure envisaged by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was not available until June last at a few naval ports. The report was introduced in Parliament on Tuesday.

“The urgency in CCS's sanction (February 2009) following the 26/11 terror attack for establishing a maritime force (Sagar Prahari Bal, SPB) within three years to provide security to all coastal and offshore naval assets has been diluted due to delays in creating the enabling setup (Fast Interception Crafts and manpower infrastructure),” the CAG said in a press statement.

According to the report, “FICs were inducted into SPB with a delay of 13 to 61 months and infrastructure for basing of FICs and SPB was still not available (June 2021) at a few naval ports envisaged in the CCS's sanction (February 2009) and manpower deployment at the officers' level was deficient.”

Following the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, in which over 166 people, including 28 foreigners from ten countries, were killed by a group of Pakistani terrorists, the Indian security establishment initiated a series of measures to strengthen India's coastal security.

“The operational availability and exploitation of FICs at designated ports have been suboptimal since their induction,” the CAG stated.

Another observation made by the CAG was that Boost Gas Turbines (BGTs) were held in excess of the quantity prescribed by existing naval instructions.

“The ships' impending decommissioning and stock position were not taken into account when placing orders for BGT procurement. This resulted in an excess of newly acquired BGTs worth Rs 213.96 crore,” it stated.

According to the CAG, the repair and overhaul of a naval helicopter were inordinately delayed due to time taken in accordance with the Ministry of Defence's Approval in Principle (AIP) (260 weeks) and contract conclusion (95 weeks).

According to the report, this caused the helicopter to be grounded for more than ten years.

The CAG also stated that the chief engineer (Navy) in Mumbai signed a contract to construct a security wall around defence land that was not free of encroachment.

As a result, the contract was cancelled in June 2017 after spending Rs 2.19 crore, according to the report.

The CAG also investigated the execution of specific work by the IAF involving an expenditure of Rs 8,922 crore from 2014-15 to 2018-19.

The CAG stated that it evaluated whether the planning and execution of work services were capable of achieving quality output in a timely manner and whether the work services tendering process was capable of ensuring quality, optimum price and fair play.

“Over the last five years, the approval of the annual major works programme has been significantly delayed in each year, which has had an adverse effect on the chain of sanctioning, tendering and execution of works,” it said.

The CAG also provided specific examples of rule violations. “In one case, relating to runway works, the award of work to an ineligible contractor led to premature failure of the runway, which in turn required fresh sanctioning and execution of work through another contractor for the same work.”

“As a result, fresh runway resurfacing at the AF station was completed at the cost of Rs 37.40 crore in six years rather than the prescribed period of 10-12 years,” it said.