New Delhi:
Upset over Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) critical observations on procurement of buses in Delhi, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit asked the top auditor to have "holistic" view and desist from "nit-picking" on small issues.
She also said the critical observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General "discourages" the policymakers and especially bureaucrats in taking decisions as "they are always scared that the CAG will ask why this was done and why so much money was spent."
"There is always a feeling of trust. Without trust nothing can be done. The systems have to become simpler and far more transparent. For becoming transparent it should become simpler first," she said at a panel discussion of stakeholders of the audit here organised by the CAG.
On the CAG's observations that the city government procured low-floor buses at a higher cost, Dikshit said the buses plying on Delhi's roads are much cheaper than those procured in Pune, Vijayawada and Uttar Pradesh.
"We changed the buses because we wanted Delhi to become a modern city and that is everyone's dream too. But we get a report from the CAG that you have wasted public money and that you have got more expensive buses without really evaluating the kind of buses we have got," She said instead of "nit-picking" on smaller issue, more important issues such as wastage of water and grains stocked in godowns should be taken and audited.
"There are more important issues like the wastage of water and how many tonnes of grains are stocked in FCI godowns. Those grains can be given to the people and this will reduce the price of commodities... those issues can be looked into," she said.
"The outcome is much more important. If the outcome is good, visible and satisfies everybody that should be the criteria rather than nit picking... the outcome is visible in Delhi," she said.
"I would ask the CAG to have a holistic view on the issues and have a humane view and also go deeper in to the issues," she said.
However, CAG Vinod Rai said his report on Delhi Government's bus procurement policy was not that statistically simple as mentioned by Dikshit.
"Please be assured that all are aware of the fact that we should not have brought this in our audit report if it was this statistically simple... after the audit we share the audit with the department concerned," Rai said.
"...please permit us the facility of interacting with our officers. They did not interact," he said.