A tele-education project of the University of Madras has been rendered useless and Rs. 4.91 crore spent on it was termed fruitless expenditure by the Comptroller and Audit General.
The proposal to link affiliated colleges and enhance the distance education programme through state-of-the art learning centres was mooted in 2008 and after several delays the Central government helped it set up the project for which the university was alloted Rs. 6.50 crore.
The long-term plan was to connect the Universities of Madras, Calcutta and Bombay and offer joint degree programmes at PG and Ph.D level. In February 2011, the project started functioning and in a year, only 15 tele-education sessions were delivered, after which the project was wound up.
An audit in 2014 found that the Syndicate in its June 2009 meeting had approved creation of seven posts, but they were never filled. The university later decided to train three staff members with experts from Central government nominated Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL). But they left the university and the project remained dysfunctional. The audit scrutiny further revealed that TCIL was paid Rs. 4.91 crore against its claim of Rs. 5.70 crore to maintain equipment and run the project. The university did not take any action despite an interim report in April 2014 by the co-ordinator on the lack of staff, poor maintenance of equipment and system. The Registrar in his response to the CAG query in August 2015, blamed interference due to weather and that rain had impacted the services. He said obstructions led to a total loss of wireless signal.
