Gujarat government escapes CAG wrath with mild raps

For yet another year, the Gujarat government seems to have escaped criticism by the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG), whose reports are generally dreaded by governments.

Unlike in the past, when irregularities worth thousands of crores were highlighted by CAG reports, the auditor seems to have given only mild raps to the establishment this year.

While reports related to revenue sector, state finances and economic sector for the year ended March 2017 were tabled in the assembly on the last day of the Budget session on Wednesday, those related to social sector and functioning of public sector undertakings were surprisingly not. These, incidentally, are the areas where the government faces criticism.

The social sector audit reports of CAG in past have exposed irregularities or neglegence in sectors like agriculture, education, health, civic amenities, rural development, social welfare and environment. Financial irregularities in Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited of Rs 22,000 crore was revealed for the first time in CAG’s report.

The report’s highlights indicated the Gujarat government’s neglegence in conservation of Asiatic lions. The agency also nudged out the revenue loss incurred by the government by not revising the Jantri rates.

It mentioned the state’s outstanding debt reaching Rs 2.43 lakh crore in 2016-17 from Rs 1.67 lakh crore in 2012-13, indicated the rise of outstanding debt of Rs. 76,000 crore in just five years over the government.