Shimla, April 15 (IANS): The exporters in Himachal Pradesh's prominent industrial belt Baddi are yet to get the benefit of an inland container depot of the Container Corporation of India (Concor), which was scheduled to be ready by January 2010, the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) has said.

The government watchdog said failure to operationalise the inland container depot rendered the expenditure of Rs.19.75 crore unfruitful as the intended beneficiaries remained deprived of the benefits.

The auditor, in its recent report, said non-issue of necessary notification by the government of India, the Central Board of Excise and Customs and non-posting of staff were mainly responsible for its delay.

It blamed the state director industries, too, for not pursuing the case regularly with the government of India over delay in its completion.

The state government had on October 17, 2008, signed an agreement with Concor for setting up the inland container depot in Solan district with an outlay of Rs.57.45 crore.

The state-owned Concor -- which operates inland transport services and cargo handling across the country -- was to construct the depot in 15 months. It was to invest Rs.27.78 crore out of the total expenditure.

The state in April 2009 transferred 17.2 acres of government land to Concor for the construction of the depot on a 95-year lease of Re.1 per acre per annum.

The phase I of the project, which included construction of a warehouse, was completed in May 2013.

The phase II, in which the depot was to be linked with the rail network, was scheduled to be undertaken after commissioning of the Chandigarh-Baddi rail link and till that time the road-fed service was to be provided.

Official sources said that when the agreement was signed in 2008, then chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had said Concor would transport products valued at over Rs.700 crore annually.