Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has raised questions on the condition of the new Indian embassy building in Beijing – how it turned into an “uninhabitable” place, “extremely dilapidated, within a few years of renovation and despite incurring expenditure on a comprehensive annual maintenance contract (AMC).The embassy had shifted its offices and residential quarters for 16 senior officials to a new, renovated building premises in Jan 2012 from the old chancery premises that were vacated for redevelopment. Now, the embassy has proposed another expenditure of over Rs 17 crore to renovate the new premises.The “extremely dilapidated condition” of the new building came under the auditor’s scrutiny as the government had spent, besides incurring expenditure on renovation itself, on a five-year maintenance guarantee and a comprehensive AMC thereafter.In its audit report, tabled in Parliament on Monday, CAG said embassy officials are living outside on rent and six residential units of the embassy premises have been vacant as of Feb 2025. The remaining 10 are in an extremely dilapidated condition with “damaged wooden floor and walls, and blockage of sewage and drainage pipes”, it said.In Aug 2023, the embassy had forwarded a proposal to the external affairs ministry for “complete renovation” of 16 residential units at a cost of over Rs 17 crore, which, CAG said, is still under consideration (till Jan 2025). Meanwhile, the embassy has spent Rs 3 crore towards renting accommodation for its personnel.Despite having AMC and incurring significant expenditure on repairs, “due to multiple wear and tear issues, erosion and bursting of water and heating pipelines, water leakages, requirement of waterproofing of roof, damages to the wooden floor and walls, and blockage of sewage and drainage pipes”, these newly constructed residential units are becoming uninhabitable, CAG observed. The AMC of the new building had started in April 2017.Further, while the old chancery building was vacated in 2012, the embassy continued to pay heating charges of Rs 74 lakh for it to the Beijing Heating Company. The building was declared uninhabitable in 2014, the report noted.“The audit observed (Oct 2023) that though embassy offices were shifted out of the old premises in Jan 2012 and the premises was not being used for any active purpose/service since 2014, the mission did not take effective action to get the heating supply to the vacant building discontinued and incurred an expenditure of Rs 74 lakh towards its heating charges during the period 2015-16 to 2024-25,” CAG said.The embassy, in its response (Sept 2024), said, “The units were declared uninhabitable after multiple wear and tear issues which arose after expiry of the quality warranty period of five years”.
