Comptroller and Auditor General, CAG, has pulled up Information and Broadcasting Ministry for prematurely releasing funds to National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) for construction of National Museum on Indian Cinemas (NMIC), even before the state-run builder achieved the specific milestones. In a report tabled in Parliament Friday, the CAG said the ministry had in 2010 initiated a project to build the NMIC in Films Division complex in Mumbai. The estimated cost was nearly 101 crore and was expected to be completed in June 2012. As per a contract between the Films Division and NBCC, payments were to be made on completion of various milestones. The auditing body said that the ministry in contravention of the terms of the contract released funds to NBCC without specific linkages and also did not ascertain actual progress before making payments. It observed that the ministry had released more than 85 per cent of the estimated project cost even before obtaining of the statutory required approval from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. The CAG said that NBCC could incur expenditure of only 36 crore rupees out of the released amount of 88 crore rupees as of December 2014, resulting in blocking of substantial sums for different durations during the period from March 2010 to December 2014.<br/><br/>The Ministry told the CAG that as the project was to be completed before the centenary celebration of Indian cinema in 2013, the ministry had relaxed or modified the milestones of construction before releasing funds through the Films Division. It added that the NBCC, which is a government enterprise, had opened a separate bank account for the project and the bank interest was being credited to that account. The ministry also informed that as per the revised time line, the museum was to be completed and handed over by December 2015. The CAG, however, observed that the reply of the ministry does not address the issue of premature release of funds without synchronising the payments with the progress of the work.