Urban News

  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size
Accounts / Audit

Energy audit begins at Coimbatore Corporation office

Thursday, 09 May 2013 04:06 administrator Accounts / Audit
E-mail Print PDF

The Hindu                   09.05.2013 

Energy audit begins at Coimbatore Corporation office

Karthik Madhavan

With the aim of reducing power consumption and the electricity charges at its main office in Town Hall, the Coimbatore Corporation has begun energy audit.

According to sources, the audit, being executed by a group of professionals from Chennai, will study the equipment installed, energy consumption pattern, how efficient is the Corporation in using the installed equipment, etc.

The study is two weeks old, sources in the civic body say and add that the group is likely to submit its report in a week. Sources privy to the draft report say that the group has a list of 56 points for the Corporation to work on. If the Corporation accepts and implements the proposals in the report it will lead to power conservation between seven-and-a-half to 20 per cent for it.

In terms of money, it will lead to substantial savings because the Corporation spends nearly Rs. 2 lakh on power charges a month.

Points in the report include better light management, efficient use of generator, etc. Based on the report, the Corporation is likely to go in for solar panels to generate electricity to supply to the Tangedco grid and receive power from the same.

The sources say that after going through the energy audit, the Corporation will clearly know the right number of panels it needs to install to generate power. If it did not go in for the audit, the Corporation would have installed more panels than necessary. As a follow up to the energy audit, the civic body is also mulling options to install solar concentrators on anganwadis and noon-meal centres in Corporation schools. The objective is to bring down LPG consumption. By installing the concentrators the civic body will be able to cook food for 60 persons in an hour and thereby save one-and-a-half to two cylinders a day a centre.

 

Now, all roads to get audited for quality

Tuesday, 30 April 2013 04:40 administrator Accounts / Audit
E-mail Print PDF

The Hindu                 30.04.2013

Now, all roads to get audited for quality

Aloysius Xavier Lopez

Roads in the city are all set to last longer. All bus routes and interior roads in the city will be subjected to third-party quality audit and certification by the Chennai Corporation.

Around one per cent of the works’ cost will be used for employing the third-party monitoring team, said a senior official of the Chennai Corporation. The system of third-party monitoring was introduced in 2010 for the Special Roads Programme by the State government. The quality monitoring team used to directly submit reports pertaining to the roads covered under Special Roads Programme 2010-2011 to the Chennai Corporation commissioner and the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Secretary. The Special Roads Programme 2010-2011 was announced after the northeast monsoon in 2010. However, other road works have not been covered under quality monitoring so far. The new system of the Chennai Corporation is likely to permit payment for the contractor only after certification by the third-party monitoring team.

The third-party monitoring team will collect physical samples and ensure that adequate camber, compaction, proper temperature of bitumen mix and stipulated plastics mix is made on all roads. This initiative is likely to ensure that the bitumen concrete roads last more than a decade. As a chunk of the 1,0000 civic infrastructure development works under way in the city pertain to road improvement, the civic body is planning to ensure superior quality for all the stretches.

Contractors who have completed works without adhering to stipulations may have to redo the roads after the quality monitoring team submits reports. The Chennai Corporation has already commenced action against contractors, who have failed to begin civic infrastructure projects on time.

The Chennai Corporation council passed a resolution recently blacklisting a few contractors who had not begun work on the mega city development projects in the Tondiarpet zone.

In addition to the private quality monitoring team, the technical audit team of the Chennai Corporation will also be strengthened with more manpower to improve yet another mode of quality control. Ten members will join the technical audit team. The technical audit report of Chennai Corporation too will play a role in ensuring superior quality of roads, a senior official said.

 

CMDA ducks audit to hide mismatches?

Tuesday, 02 April 2013 09:10 administrator Accounts / Audit
E-mail Print PDF

The New Indian Express                    02.04.2013

CMDA ducks audit to hide mismatches?

Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is apparently turning a blind eye towards its annual auditing and has not submitted files despite several reminders. The audit department has, however, brought out several irregularities in the functioning of the nodal planning agency.

The audit report, which was tabled in the assembly on Monday, highlights irregularities in filling up of posts, non-collection of infrastructure and amenities charges, development fee and premium charges besides non-submission of suit register for audit.

The report states that 786 audit objections involving `694.68 crore is pending settlement at the close of audit as on March 2011.

The report also states that despite several reminders to the finance and the accounts department, they did not produce it for verification.

As per the report, deposits and advances of `111.62 crore and `108.92 crore were pending, respectively at the end of 2011-12.

This was one of the reasons resulting in the government demanding an action taken report and status report on the pending audit paras with explanatory notes and inspection report to be filed within this week.

The report also highlights that CMDA has filled several temporary posts without any approval from the government. Even the age limit and qualifications were ignored in the appointment of assistant engineers and planning assistant Grade I in CMDA.

As per the CMDA service regulations, the age limit for appointment of assistant engineer is below 30 years but there were candidates above 30 and some did not have required qualifications.

The report also highlights that CMDA officials were sanctioned long-term loans and advances but the recovery never finds a mention in the service register.

 
More Articles...


Page 5 of 10