tr4fr r iTfk qfl7F, 1< f w4j110002- DGA/SD/EA/WBAP/ESIP/2022-23/ 6 5 fjf* *ÈlT .Ài The Secretary, Ministry of Environment. Forests and Climate Change Office ofSecretary (EF&CC) Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Aliganj, Jorbagh Road, e- office No. i ... New Delhi- 110 003 Date 9t:ffl N fbqTU-¯ WI Muu-1 "Ecosysteni Service finprovement Project" under Directorate of Green India Mission, financed under World Bank GEF Grant No. TF-A3990-IN for the year 2022-23 ~ tV1MT V I Tgk4, ,3CC qT f4i -4 31 H 4H WMIRglil "Ecosystem Service Improvement Project" under Directorate of Green India Mission, financed under World Bank GEF Grant No. TF-A3990-IN for the year 2022-23 ¯N T ll' 311p w~ 41 This issues with the approval of DGA (ESD). (NA qi (R-dr) -ýy ý ýOSI 2F&C F 8 0 z à 0 C C 7--T*A3Tr q ttr -w fm t f , -110 002 Gurveen Sidhu, IA&AS DIRECTOR GENERAL OF AUDIT ENVIRONMENT & SCIENTIFIC DEPARTMENTS A,G.C.R. BUILDING, I.R ESTATE NEW DELHI -110 002 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India To The Secretary to the Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change New Delhi Audit Report on the Project Financial Statements: We have audited the accompanying financial statements of the "Ecosystem Service Improvement Project" inder Directorate of Green India Mission, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, New Delhi financed under World Bank GEF Grant No. TF-A3990-IN for the year 2022-23, which comprises the Statement of Sources and Application of Funds of Funds for the year ended 31st March 2023.These statements are the responsibilities of the Project's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the accompanying financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the auditing standards promulgated by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. These standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material mis-statement. Our audit examines, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statement. It also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion. In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the sources and applications of funds of "Ecosystem Service Improvement Project" under Directorate of Green India Mission, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, New Delhi for the year ended 31st March 2023 in accordance with Government of India accounting standards. In addition, in our opinion, (a)with respect to the Statement of Expenditure, adequate supporting documentation has been maintained to support claims to the World Bank for reimbursement of expenditure of Rs. 59.77 lakh incurred under the project and (b)except for ineligible expenditure of Rs 6,652/- as detailed in the audit observations appended to the audit report, expenditure of Rs. 59.71 lakh are eligible for financing under the Loan/Credit Agreement. During the course of audit, Statement of Expenditure/Financial statement amounting to Rs. 59.77 lakh were examined which can be relied upon to support reimbursement of Rs. 59.71 lakh tinder the Loan/Credit as per annexure. This report is issued without prejudice to CAG's right to incorporate the Audit observations in the Report ofCAG of India for being laid before Parliament. Director General of Audit (E&SD) Place New Delhi Dated : )o0'r)tCAt Ph.: 91-11-23702348 E-mail: pdaesd@cag.govin Fax :91-11-23702353 Audit Comments on Certification Audit of "Ecosystem Services Improvement Project (ESIP), GEF Grant No. TF-0A3990-IN World Bank Aided Project under Green India Mission for the year 2022-23. General Comments: 1. (a) During audit of financial statements in respect of World Bank Aided "Ecosystem Services Improvement Project (ESIP)", for the period 2022-23, it was observed that Sh. Vivek Saxena, APPCF, Haryana on his tour to attend the 5th World Congress on Agroforestry in Toronto, Canada booked a flight from Chandigarh to Delhi on 15 July 2022 through EaseMyTrip.com. The same was in violation of the Department of Expenditure (DoE) Office Memorandum dated 16 June 2022 which stipulates that booking of Air Tickets can be made through the authorized travel agents i.e. M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited, M/s Ashok Travels & Tours and Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. only. Hence, the expenditure of Rs. 6652/- has been disallowed. S.NO. Voucher No. Object Head Amount (Rs.) 1. CP00003588 Foreign Travel Expenses 6,652/- Total 6,652/- (b) The deputation order of this visit also mentioned that an advance of Rs. 80, 627/- was sanctioned to the official. However, due to the absence of any Advance Register maintained by the PMU, GIM it could not be ascertained whether this advance was adjusted or not. 2. Expenditure against voucher no. CP00000558 amounting to Rs. 9765/- in respect of payment made towards supplying High Tea and Snacks during meetings of World Bank Implementation Support Mission was misclassified under Office Expenses (OE) instead Other Administrative Expenses (OAE). 3. As per one of the conditions of initial approval by Secretary, MoEF&CC regarding provision of hired vehicle for Project Management Unit, GIM, a proper logbook of the vehicle entailing the information like place visited, purpose of journey, signature of the officer using car etc. was to be maintained. Despite the request of the IFD (July 2022) to provide copy of Log Book Register in a proper format, a copy of duty sheet entailing the distance travelled was only attached for reference. It was observed that the same is still not maintained by the PMU due to which the correctness of the expenditure incurred could not be verified in Audit. Also, it was observed that the distance covered by the vehicle in the months of March, April and July 2022 ranged between 70-100 km per day. The same was not in consonance with the justification provided to IFD at the time of approval for hiring of the vehicles. Annexure (Statement - A) Statement showing the details of component wise expenditure incurred during the year 2022-23 in respect of World Bank Aided Project "Ecosystem Service Improvement Project under Green India Mission" Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor Bagh New Delhi financed under World Bank GEF Grant No. TF-0A3990-IN. (Amount in Rs.) SI. Component Total amount Actual Expenditure Reimbursement No. as per SOE Expenditure disallowed allowed verified by Audit 1 Project Management 59,77,233 59,77,233 6,652 59,70,581 and Co-ordination Amount released to ICFRE has not been included (Statement - B) Statement showing the details of disallowances made from the expenditure incurred during the year 2022-23 in respect of World Bank Aided Project "Ecosystem Service Improvement Project under Green India Mission" Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor Bagh New Delhi financed under World Bank GEF Grant No. TF-0A3990-IN. S. No. Brief Subject Amount Disallowed (Amount in Rs.) 1. Booking of Air Tickets in violation of the 6,652/- Department of Expenditure (DoE) O.M. dated 16 June 2022 stipulating booking of Air Tickets through the authorized travel agents. Amount released to ICFRE has not been included (Statement - C) Statement showing the details of reconciliation of claims of total application of funds during the year 2022-23 in respect of World Bank Aided Project "Ecosystem Service Improvement Project under Green India Mission" Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor Bagh New Delhi financed under World Bank GEF Grant No. TF-0A3990-IN. (Amount in Rs.) Schedule Current year A 59,77,233 B 6,652 C 59,70,581 D 59,70,581 Total expenditure made during the year (A): Rs. 59,77,233/- Less: Ineligible expenditure (B). Rs. 6,652/- Total Eligible expenditure (C) = (A-B): Rs. 59,70,581/- Amount reimbursable by bank (D): Rs. 59,70,581/- Di tor (EA)