CAG Flays BADP Irregularities in Mizoram

Aizawl, Mar 30 : The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has flayed the Mizoram's Rural Development Department for irregularities in the implementation of the Border Area Development Programme in the state, which shares international borders of 404 kms with Myanmar and 318 kms with Bangladesh.

''The main objective of the programme for a speedy development of the border area was not achieved to the desired extent due to inherent deficiency in planning and implementation of the programme (on the part of the state government),'' the CAG said in its report for the year ended March 31, 2010, laid in the state Assembly by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla today.

''The rural development failed to prepare comprehensive district plans. A baseline survey was yet to be conducted. There was no attempt to converge the schemes, sponsored by the state government and the Centre, with the BADP,'' the CAG said.

Moreover, the Mara and Lai autonomous district councils were not given any role in execution of the programme in their respective district councils.

It was further noticed that the villages dotted near the international borders of Myanmar and Bangladesh were not identified for preparation of annual action plan for 2009-2010, thereby obviating the very purpose of prioritising these villages.

In violation of the prescribed financial rules, the department drew an amount of Rs 46.76 crore during 205-2010 presenting false bills to the government’s treasury before actual commencement of approved works, the CAG said.

Out of Rs 103.40 crore drawn during 2005-2010, only Rs 23.40 crore (23 per cent) was released to the implementing border blocks, and the remaining Rs 80 crore (77 per cent) was disbursed in the subsequent financial years, causing abnormal delay, the report revealed.

Against the BADP guidelines, the department disproportionately allocated Rs 87 crore to 16 border blocks during 2006-2010 without giving equal weightage of population criteria, it was also noted by the CAG.

Further, the department incurred an expenditure of Rs 6.71 crore during 2005-2010 towards execution of 134 'ineligible' works, mainly pertaining to construction of office buildings, residential accommodations and rest houses, the CAG flayed.

Despite the fact that the BADP guidelines emphasised that no single sector gets a disproportionately large share of total allocation, it was noticed that the expenditure under infrastructure sector alone constituted 55 per cent of the total expenditure.

The expenditure under social, education, security, health and agriculture sector accounted for two to 19 per cent of the total expenditure, the report said.

It was also revealed by the CAG that BDOs of eight border blocks completed 34 works/schemes during 2005-06 to 2009-10 at a cost of Rs 5.40 crore against the original approved estimated cost of Rs 3.32 crore with spilled over of works/schemes from two to six years, resulting in cost over-run of Rs 2.08 crore.

''As a result, the BADP failed to meet the needs of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas near the borders,'' the CAG report said.