CAG report tabled in Bihar assembly, raps government for large savings

By Sanjay Singh
Report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 2015, which was tabled in the state assembly on Friday, has rapped the state government for "large savings" due to improper budget estimation.

"There were large savings of Rs 43,925.80 crore (31.37 per cent) against total budget provision of Rs 1,40,022.59 crore during 2014-15 indicating improper budget estimation," the CAG report on State Finances mentioned.

According to the report, large savings under various schemes/ sub-heads may affect the implementation of development programmes in the state. The report further mentioned persistent savings for the last five years were also noticed in 10 departments.

"Out of the total savings (Rs 43925.80 crore), Rs 27,334.02 crore (62.3 per cent) was only surrendered and amount of Rs 22,740.73 crore (83.20 per cent) was surrendered on March 31, 2015," the report found.

The CAG’s recommendation is that the budgetary control mechanism should be strengthened in the government departments to avoid huge savings, especially where savings occurred persistently and to avoid taking supplementary grants, which remain unutilized in other heads.

The CAG report has also recommended that a system should be put in place to ensure proper accounting and monitoring of the use of funds directly transferred by government of India to state implementing agency.

"During 2014-15, government of India directly transferred Rs 651.74 crore to the state implementing agencies which was less than the previous year by 93.11 per cent. The major recipients were District Planning Officers (Local Bodies) (Rs 246.50 i.e 37.83 per cent), Indian Institute of Technology, Patna (Government Autonomous Bodies) (Rs 206.97 crore i.e per cent) and All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (Government Autonomous Bodies) (Rs 82.00 crore i.e 12.58 per cent)," the report said.

A positive shift in the state finances, the report indicated is that share of salaries and wages in revenue expenditure of selected socio-economic services decreased from 27.90 per cent in 2013-14 to 24.24 per cent in 2014-15.

The report has slammed the State Health Society Bihar (SHSB) for not ensuring maintenance of accounts in accordance with NRHM guidelines.

"Scrutiny of records revealed that SHSB had not maintained Principal Cash Book to record all the transactions under NRHM. Besides, Fund Received Register and Advance Register were also not maintained properly by the SHSB," the report mentioned.