NEW DELHI, May 10: The scientific departments wasted more than Rs eighty crore and left unutilised another Rs 373 crore in the last financial year, says the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

The CAG's report tabled in both the Houses of Parliament yesterday covers matters arising from test-audit transactions of the scientific departments of the Union Government. The major scientific departments excluding Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spent Rs 5467.3 crore during 1995-96 against a budget allocation of Rs 5843.31 crores. The report said. The Department of Ocean Development (DOD) imported an all terrain vehicle (Polar Bear II) from a US based firm worth Rs 112.30 lakh for transportation in Antarctica. The supplier shipped the vehicle to Cape Town from where DOD transported the vehicle to Antarctica in February 1994 inspite of the fact that the vehicle was received in damaged condition.

It broke down during the first convoy and the vehicle is lying in disuse since then. The repair and transportation of the vehicle is likely to cost atleast Rs 28 lakh more.

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