According to a 2016 report by CAG, five Uttar Pradesh government departments wasted over ₹450 crore of taxpayer’s money
According to a 2016 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), five Uttar Pradesh government departments wasted over ₹450 crore of taxpayer’s money. The wastage took place due to the negligence of officials, bureaucratic hassles, the problem in land acquisition for projects, lack of planning on part of government among other reasons. Let us see how these departments wasted the hard-earned money of Taxpayer’s
Animal Husbandry Department
The department took up the establishment of 47 veterinary hospitals at a cost of ₹15 crore in 2008. 17 Out of the 47 hospitals, build at a cost of ₹5.40 crore are not being used at all. The main reason for empty hospitals is lack of hospital staff and unwillingness of the authorities to take proper actions. According to CAG, the state government accepted its failures in November 2015. However, concrete action is yet to take place.
Basic Education Department
To promote and improve the quality of girl’s education in educationally backward districts, the state government undertook construction of 17 all girls’ schools. The projects were to advance the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan. The CAG report dryly notes that the award of contracts “to ineligible construction agency and failure of monitoring resulted in the unfruitful expenditure of ₹5.40 crore on construction of substandard Vidyalaya (school) buildings.” The shoddy quality of construction was not even considered safe for children.
Irrigation and Water Resources Department
In July 2007, the state government planned to acquire 1123.63 hectares of land for construction of Kachnaudha dam. However, even after spending over ₹416 crore, the government failed to acquire the necessary land. The project was revised multiple times between 2010 and 2015, and the taxpayers were handed the bill for failures of public authorities to do their job.
Jail Administration and Reforms Department
In March 2003, to solve the problem of overcrowding in jails, the department decided to construct a jail building at a cost of ₹17. 64 crore. Interestingly, when a Technical Committee visited the jail building in 2013 they found that there was no availability of water for the jail compound. As of October 2015, the jail compound remained unused. The CAG chided the government for not even ensuring the availability of water before starting construction.
Medical Health and Family Welfare Department
The department awarded a construction contract to build a 100-bed hospital to Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited. Due to continued delays, the estimated cost of the hospital increased from ₹7.28 crore to 12.38 crore over the years. As of the publication of the CAG report in 2016, the construction was incomplete, even after eight years of its original scheduled completion date.
These are just a few examples, the complete report of the CAG on various programs of the UP government from the early 2000s to March 31, 2015, shows that the state government wasted thousands of crores of hard-earned taxpayers’ money in frivolous and negligent manner. Such wastage is also not limited to one government or party, all ruling administrations in the state have continued to waste precious resources which UP still is one of the poorest states in India.
It is time that you and I say #NotOK and demand that our politicians and bureaucrats work for us, instead of helping themselves at our expense.
