Dear Chhattisgarh Residents, Your Money is Being Wasted Read to know How
According to a 2016 report by the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG), only six Chhattisgarh government departments wasted around ₹1,200 crore of hard-earned taxpayers’ money. The reasons for these wasteful expenditures include the bureaucratic hurdles, improper planning on the part of the government, corruption, and negligence of public officials. Let’s have a closer look at these six departments –
Water Resources Department
Between 2005-2016, the department spent ₹1095.74 crore for the construction of 280 anicuts for irrigation, efficient use of drinking water and groundwater recharge. However, even after 10 years, the construction of these anicuts remained incomplete due to the problem of land acquisition, opposition from Naxalites, labour issues, and slow progress due to bureaucratic hassles. The report flatly stated that the government did not meet the desired outcomes.
Public Works Department
During the period 2011-2016, it was found that there were excessive delays in the completion of bridges. The department failed to create a monitoring framework, there were derailments in approvals from officials, land acquisition, and violation in awarding contracts for the projects. This led to cost-overrun of ₹ 9.53 crore in 87 out of the total 126 bridge projects.
The irregular and excess payments with respect to 6 bridges which had a life-span of 100 years but could not even survive for 10 years led to another wasteful expenditure of ₹ 11.79 crore. The CAG report pointed out the negligence of officials as the main reason for the wasteful spending.
Tourism Department
In 2006, the department took up the establishment of Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition at Raipur. The department spent ₹ 18.90 crore on the construction of IHM but could not make it functional and the department also wasted ₹ 3.72 crore on salaries of idle staff.
Home (Police) Department
In 2015, the department planned to construct a police public school to provide quality educational facilities for the children of police officers. The school was constructed at a cost of ₹ 6.64 crore but remained non-functional for more than 3 years due to lack of staff and absence of approvals and budget provisions.
School Education Department
During 2010-2016, the department wasted ₹19.82 crore on the construction of 678 incomplete boundary walls in schools. In 2016, the government admitted that the construction of boundary walls was incomplete and did not reveal any time period for its completion.
The report also found irregularities in the procurement of uniforms by the department which led to an avoidable expenditure of ₹25.29 crore. Irregularities were also found in the procurement of textbooks for free distribution which led to wastage of ₹7.70 crore.
The department also paid ₹5.12 crore in allowances to panchayat teachers for house rent, medical and other allowances. Later it was found out by the government that those teachers were not entitled to these allowances. No efforts were undertaken for recovery of funds.
Panchayat and Rural Development Department
The department took up the infrastructure projects under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. The primary objective of these projects was to provide social and economic benefits to rural people. The audit of six districts showed that department spent ₹ 23.29 crore to construct bridges on eight roads passed through flowing sewers or rivers, but nothing was constructed on these rods and the habitats remained deprived of the road connectivity.
These are just a few examples which show that how the state government wasted thousand of crores of taxpayers’ money in frivolous and negligent manner.
It is the time that we say #NotOkay and question these corrupt bureaucrats and unaccountable government for wasting our money.
