new Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has slammed the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) for delay, cost overruns and irregular closure of “mission mode” projects by declaring them successful despite non-achievement of one or more key objectives. reprimanded for. or parameter.
“Mission Mode” (MM) projects are taken up by DRDO on high priority based on specific user requirements and with definite timelines for their completion.
These projects depend on technologies that are already available, proven and readily available at short notice from DRDO or within India or abroad.
The CAG report, which was tabled in Parliament on Thursday, highlighted the fact that despite the fact that MM projects have very high outcome certainty due to the ready availability of the underlying technology, the delay in initiation and approval of such projects by DRDO It was too late.
“In 119 out of 178 projects, the original schedule could not be adhered to. In 49 cases, the extra time actually exceeded 100 per cent of the original time limit,” the CAG report said.
It added that the delay ranges from 16 to 500 per cent and many times extensions are taken.
“The time taken for completion of MM projects, where technologies are either available or easily accessible, defeats the very purpose of taking them up as MM projects,” it said.
“The report also mentions that out of 86 projects declared successful during January 2010 and December 2019, in 20 projects involving an expenditure of Rs 1,074.67 crore, one or more key objectives/parameters were not achieved / were not done.
“Instead of seeking extension of time to achieve all the major objectives/parameters of the project proposal, these projects were considered successful and closed,” a CAG statement said.
The report states that DRDO had taken over 15 projects costing Rs 516.61 crore to meet unmet objectives of similar earlier closed projects declared successful by it.
The CAG has also raised issues of “inefficiencies in the planning process” by DRDO as well as inadequate monitoring of MM projects by the country’s premier research organisation.
Inefficiencies in overall project management have resulted in several instances of cost overruns, overestimation of expected benefits of projects and delay in submission of closure reports.
The CAG also brought out issues such as delay in production of successful projects, which it said defeated the very purpose of undertaking such projects.
“There was also a lack of coordination between DRDO and the services, resulting in differing views on qualitative requirements, deliverables and results of user trials. This affected the overall success rate of MM projects,” it said.
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