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Audit shows colossal waste in House catering
By Chandani Kirinde
The Parliament Catering and Housekeeping department suffered a loss of Rs. 80 million last year, the Auditor General’s Department revealed. In July last year, though the expenditure for meals amounted to Rs. 6.8 million, income from the sale of meals was only Rs. 208,883 indicating only three percent recovery of the total expenditure, the report said.

Of the total expenses of Rs. 4.4 million on meals to the staff dining room only Rs. 50,990 was recovered while out of Rs. 1.5 million for MP’s visitors a meager Rs. 46,925 was recovered. Of the expenditure of over Rs. 1 million worth of meals to the public cafeteria, only Rs. 47,857 was recovered while from the Rs. 652,307 worth of meals to the executive officers, only Rs. 14,424 was recovered.

It noted that even though the House Committee meeting held on July 17, 1993 decided that the prices of executive meals should be increased to Rs. 15 with effect from August 1, 1993, the Department had failed to do so.
“The Department has provided 262,372 meals from August 1993 to September 2004 and estimated loss on sales of meals for this period was Rs. 2.6 million” the report added.

It was also observed that the prices of meals had been decided on 10 July, 1982 on the basis of prevailing market prices but the Department had not taken action to revise the price.

It was also observed that 305 meals were unused and 972 desserts were unaccounted for during July 2004, whereas the loss of Rs. 22,356 was recoded on account of unaccounted fruit plates for the month of July resulting in an approximate annual loss of Rs. 268,272.

It was also observed that 36 meals prepared on special orders were wasted, incurring a loss of Rs. 12,240. Also 1,286 dessert plates had been excessively issued to the staff officers’ canteen and a total loss of Rs. 29,950 was incurred. It was noted that the average annual loss would be Rs. 359,400.
The Report also noted deficiencies in the procurement procedure and said there were delays in entering into agreements with suppliers due to the delay in calling for tenders.

In 2004, Halal meat worth Rs. 751,250, pork valued at Rs. 112,000 and bakery products valued at Rs. 2,510 were obtained without quotations from three suppliers. A total loss Rs. 87,600 had been incurred as a result of the purchase of juggery and treacle from a supplier who had not quoted the minimum price the Report said.

The accountability system regarding the Catering Department had not been properly established and some of the examples given in the Report were weak pricing policy, inactivated management decisions, wasting of large quantity of meals, excess orders and meals issued without billing and absence of a fixed assets register.

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