The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has pulled up the Assam government for its "poor" financial management, and criticised its "weak" expenditure monitoring and control.
The state could not attain revenue surplus and reflected a revenue deficit of Rs 1,350 crore, according to the CAG report for 2017-18 that was placed before the ongoing session of the assembly.
The increase in public debt by 116 per cent and decrease in its repayment by four per cent over the previous year indicated Assam's "poor debt management", the report pointed out.
The CAG said sound financial management requires advance planning, and accurate estimation of revenue and expenditure, but there were instances of "excess expenditure" by the Assam government, exhibiting "weakness in expenditure monitoring and control".
Excessive and unnecessary re-appropriation of funds was also observed with "unrealistic" budgetary allocations, it added.
During the year 2017-18, the Assam government incurred an expenditure of Rs 68,587 crore against the total grants and appropriations of Rs 99,453 crore, resulting in overall savings of Rs 30,866 crore, the CAG said.
The overall savings stood at 31 per cent of total grants and appropriations, and "this shows poor financial management by the state", it said.
"The cases of excess expenditure over grants are serious matters and are in violation of the will of the legislature," the report said. "It is imperative that responsibility for such serious violations is fixed to discourage this practice."
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