Odisha finance minister questions CAG report

Budget for FY16 to be presented tomorrow

State finance minister Pradeep Amat tomorrow questioned the credibility of the inference drawn by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) regarding the performance of state government in different sectors as mentioned in its report for the year 2013-14.

"Whatever the CAG has said is not the final conclusion. It needs to be vetted by the (public accounts) committee. We honour it, but at the same time it must go through further scrutiny for commissions and omissions," said Amat commenting on the recently released CAG report that found fault with the government on several counts.

The CAG, in its audit report for social sector prepared for the year 2014, had criticised the state government over mismanagement in Phailin relief and restoration programme and had said, despite witnessing a very severe cyclone in 1999, adequate preparedness for Phailin was not in place.

The state government had earned accolades globally for evacuating about a million people living in coastal areas and was awarded by the United Nations for the effort. However, the audit agency said, the state government failed to save several thousand animal lives and even the figures of evacuated persons were exaggerated. In case of restoration of road, power and drinking water facility too, the government failed miserably, the report said.

The state government has admitted that there was over reporting of evacuation figures and it should be ignored given the large scale task, the report said, quoting the government agencies. The CAG report has embarrassed the state government, which had won a massive mandate nearly six months after the Phailin struck the Odisha coast. The ruling party had highlighted the pre-cyclone preparedness that saved number of lives and massive post-cyclone relief and restoration work as a major success of the government during the poll campaign and was able to weather a national mood which swung towards Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The opposition parties said, the ruling party has never respected the Constitutional authorities and might create uproar on the CAG remark in the assembly tomorrow, when budget for 2015-16 will be presented. The budget size for the next fiscal may be around Rs 86,000 crore, which is about Rs 6,000 crore more than 2014-15, despite a mere four per cent rise in revenue collections this year.