Corp’s Covid management bills encounter DDMA hurdle

Thiruvananthapuram: The city corporation which dug deep into the fund reserve to meet the expenses related to Covid management is now facing an audit objection for want of documents related to various expenses.
The audit has pointed out that the district disaster management authority (DDMA) has not reimbursed the expense incurred by the civic body for running Covid first-line treatment centres (CFLTCs). In 2020-21, the corporation had spent Rs 4.34 crore to run CFLTCs.
The report shows that the corporation did not furnish the contract documents signed with the Kudumbashree coordinator for distribution of food and other essential items in CFLTCs and institutional quarantine centres. The civic body also failed to submit a reply to the audit query regarding these expenses. The audit department has directed the city corporation to get the expense of Rs 4.34 crore reimbursed by the DDMA and communicate it to the audit department.
Corporation officials said that DDMA has not responded to the corporation’s request to reimburse the amount spent for Covid-19 management in the city during 2020 and 2021.
The audit has also objected to the advance amount worth Rs 1 crore allotted to various health staff in different wards for the distribution of food and emergency expenses in institutional quarantine centres. Amount ranging between Rs 5 and 10 lakhs was allotted as advance to health officials.
The report notes that the bills and other documents showing accurate expense of this amount have not been furnished to the audit department. Besides, the corporation has not taken steps to get the amount reimbursed from DDMA and citing these reasons, the audit has objected to the allocation of Rs 1 crore.
The issue had earlier triggered a debate in the council meeting. In June 2020, bogged down by expenses related to Covid management, the city corporation had submitted bills to the tune of Rs 1.6 crore to DDMA.
The city corporation had borne a major chunk of expenses related to Covid management in the district especially with regard to running community kitchens and institutional quarantine centres.
The state executive committee (SEC)of Kerala state disaster management authority had declared Coronavirus outbreak as a state specific disaster and approved the norms for relief assistance in April.
It was directed that funds provided by KSDMA to DDMA shall be utilized by the chairperson of DDMA for the matters deemed appropriate for Corona response. The norms and scale of assistance declared and approved by the SEC of KSDMA will be followed for providing relief assistance to the victims of state specific disaster in the state.