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Jairam Ramesh asks CAG to audit Rs 100k-cr allocation to rural schemes

Posted Date : 11-Oct-2011 , 08:37:17 am | Posted By CASANSAAR print Print

Jairam Ramesh on Monday broke off from his CAG-bashing ministerial colleagues and asked the agency to audit the over Rs 1,00,000-crore annual allocation by his department to rural development schemes.

In a letter to the CAG, Jairam Ramesh has sought the appointment of special accountant generals to oversee audit of the utilisation of rural development funds. As per government sources, rural development programmes in 16 states - Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir - will come up for CAG scrutiny.

"The Rural Development Minister will also be writing to all states on the decision of his ministry. The special accountant generals will undertake audit of employment, road, water supply and sanitation projects that are being carried out with central funds," a source in the government said.

This decision of the Rural Development Ministry suggests that Ramesh is averse to the idea of running down the Comptroller and Auditor General . The CAG, whose reports triggered an image crisis for the UPA government, is being attacked by senior ministers of the government and ruling party spokespersons.

The Rural Development Ministry's efforts to inject more accountability into the functioning of the department and use of government's funds are certain to be appreciated by many as there is a growing feeling that these funds rarely reach the intended beneficiary or developmental projects.

In what is aimed as an effort to drive home his party's point that it respected national institutions, Ramesh will also be participating in a retreat organised by the CAG in Shimla on October 15 and 16. Vinod Rai, who heads CAG, has invited 10 secretaries in the Government of India and an equal number of finance secretaries of state for this retreat.

"There has been much debate in the past on the CAG's mandate. However, some of our recent reports like 2G and CWG have generated greater debate on the limitations of CAG to look into policy matters.

The fine distinction between policy decisions and policy implementation issues is somewhat difficult to make and at times tend to converge in the entire process of government functioning," Rai wrote in his letter to secretaries. (Economic Times)

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