Puducherry LG Kiran Bedi faults politicians, officials over loss-making

Puducherry | Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi has blamed lack of government scrutiny and precaution for the losses suffered by public sector undertakings and societies in the union territory.

Identifying the reasons for the PSUs’s losses after a deep review of sanction of grants to them, she said consequently “loss over loss was glossed over and objections from auditors were not complied with.”

With the leadership of these undertakings being both “political and bureaucratic both are responsible for the state of affairs over the years,” she said in a release here Wednesday. The review revealed that the government had been ‘callously’ dealing with the release and sanction of grants. She said the files relating to the sanction of grant in aid had not been earlier placed before the office of the Lt Governor.

“In the past we have been releasing funds over the years without due precaution and scrutiny… People entered the undertakings for employment for salaries through irregular means and through back-door,” Bedi said. Money sanctioned for specific purposes were breached and diverted to pay salaries and without any departmental policy.

The PSUs and societies deviated from their core functions and went into businesses without having core competences resulting in “massive losses and debts,” she added.

The Puducherry government had consequently been reeling under “a debt” and had not been able to pay salaries to duly recruited employees on time, Bedi said. She stressed that public servants must refrain from being spectators and should take responsibility for the administration they have chosen to be in.

“If the officers wanted their pensions safe they should stop ignoring what is irregular,” she said asking the officers to go by the law and the rules while sanctioning the grants and record their observations in the files.