Fin Dept to conduct special audit of relief orgs: J-K govt

Amid allegations of embezzlement of funds and fake ration cards, Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered special audit by State Finance department in the Relief department.
"We order the Finance Department to undertake a special audit of relief organisation to help them achieve goals and objectives by measuring overall performance and productivity," Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, Syed Basharat Bukhari today said at a high-level meeting to review the implementation of various initiatives and schemes for Kashmiri migrants.
The meeting was attended by Financial Commissioner Relief & Rehabilitation, B B Vyas, Director Finance, Shagufta Qazi, besides officers of the Relief Organisation and representatives of concerned organisations.

"The audit will protect the organisation from financial misstatements and present their reliable picture," he said.
Regarding the upgrade of residential accommodations from existing one-room tenements (ORTs) to two-room tenements (TRTs), the Minister called for taking up constructions afresh and resolving the architectural issues so that quality of assets is not compromised.
Bukhari also ordered mapping of existing zones to assess viability of rearrangement or subsequent expansion of infrastructure at these zones.

He approved substituting the existing "Medical Reimbursement Scheme" with the new "Medicare Scheme" to reduce the time lag in granting sanction to the medical claims.
"The scheme will come into effect from April 01, 2017 and will do away with the previous time consuming and cumbersome procedure of filing medical claims," the Minister said.

On the issue of food supplies, he directed the official concerned to provide financial compensation in lieu of food-grains to the migrant families that have not yet received ration for over two months.
Taking serious note of the delay in switching over to Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for distributing government-sponsored financial assistance, the Minister directed the relief organisation to immediately implement the scheme in remaining areas and requested the migrant families to cooperate with the authorities by sharing the requisite information well in time.
Bukhari ordered the Finance Department to undertake a special audit of relief organisation to help it achieve goals and objectives by measuring overall performance and productivity. "The audit will protect the organisation from financial mis-statements and present its reliable picture," he said.