CAG pulls up Gujarat for Rs. 6.11-cr idle investment in banana pack house.

There were hardly any bananas to pack and export. But Gujarat pulled off a miracle in setting up a banana pack house, with no tangible results. In the process, it led to an idle investment of Rs. 6.11 crore.

The amount may appear meagre by recent's standards but the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report, tabled in the Vidhan Sabha recently, exposes how Government departments and their affiliated institutions function. 'Failure to cross-check the reliability of the project report before taking an investment decision led to an idle investment of Rs. 6.11 crore,' it said.

Ironically, the then State Government, led by Narendra Modi, had often boasted about these pack houses and the 'export' of bananas to West Asia!

The State-promoted Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Ltd. got a feasibility study conducted by Global Agri Systems Pvt Ltd. in July 2004 for setting up a dedicated banana pack house (BPH). The project cost was Rs. 6.24 crore, under which a BPH at Jhagadia and two collection centres at Achalia (Jhagadia) and Vavdi (Mehsana), were to be set up.

Subsequently, Rs. 7.14 crore was sanctioned to Gujarat Agro until April 2011. It awarded the work to the Ahmedabad-based Rinac India Ltd., which completed the work for Rs 6.11 crore. Gujarat Agro also engaged Cargo Service Center India Pvt Ltd for the operation and maintenance of these centres for five years, for a license fee of Rs. 3.10 crore.

However, after paying the first biannual instalment of Rs. 20.47 lakh in July 2010, Cargo Service requested, in March 2011, the deferment of licence fees and, just two months later, expressed apprehensions about 'running the project viably due to limited availability of bananas in the region.'


HBL