The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India has submitted 16 performance and compliance audit reports on various sectors to the Union Finance Ministry, and they will be tabled in Parliament this winter session.
The reports include the >audit report on paddy procurement and milling for the Central pool , the issue on which The Hindu reported extensively in March.
The CAG audited the financial dealings between government agencies and rice mills in eight major paddy-producing States, probing allegations that millers generated huge sums of unaccounted wealth by hiding or under-reporting earnings from the sale of by-products such as bran, husk and broken rice.
The PMO had also forwarded to the CAG a complaint filed by RTI activist Gouri Shankar Jain, who alleged a Rs.10-lakh crore scam.
As per government records, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are among the top contributors to the Central paddy pool. The Central and State governments procure paddy from farmers at the minimum support price and give it to the mills for processing of rice, or millers themselves purchase paddy from farmers and process it for supply to the government. Under both schemes, the government collects 68 kg parboiled or 67 kg raw rice per 100-kg paddy. However, the lack of clarity on the pricing of the rest of the 32-33 kg by-products allowed unscrupulous millers to generate black money. Among the other CAG reports are the compliance audit of the National Skill Development Fund and the National Skill Development Corporation.
It was submitted earlier this month along with the reports on the utilisation of the rigs in ONGC; hydrocarbon exploration efforts by Oil India Limited; and Ratna and R-series hydrocarbon fields.
The Finance Ministry has also received reports on Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, a sanitation campaign launched under UPA-II, the Navy and the Coast Guard and a two-volume Union Audit Report of the Railways and utilisation and distribution of safety items in Railways.
