According to a report presented in the Parliament by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the government paid excess subsidy of Rs 21.7 million to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Reliance Infocomm.
The excess subsidy was provided to BSNL and Reliance Infocomm for providing rural community phones (RCP) in the West Bengal and UP East circles during March 2005 to December 2010. The net cost for installing RCPs is reimbursable from the Universal Service Obligation fund.
As per the CAG report, that the government signed agreements with BSNL and Reliance Infocomm in 2004 for establishing 46,253 RCPs in different service areas. However, on scrutiny it was found that 836 RCPs were installed in villages which already had public phone booths.
As per the report, once the matter of excess subsidy was raised by the CAG, the Controller of Communications Accounts (CCA), West Bengal circle, raised a claim of Rs 16.2 million against Reliance Infocomm and recovered the entire amount on November 2011. However, the CCA, UP East circle told CAG that the matter was still under investigation.
The report also states that the CAG referred the matter of excess subsidy to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in January 2012 and the reply on the same is awaited.
