Government today announced that the Comptroller and Auditor General will audit the fund allocations under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in the wake of the multi-crore NRHM scam in Uttar Pradesh.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Lok Sabha that following irregularities found in U.P. and other States, the Centre had asked the CAG to audit the funds allocated under NRHM.
“The CAG has agreed to it...it will audit future allocations and let us see if it can audit the past records too,” he said in reply to a discussion on Demand for Grants for the Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
Mr. Azad also announced that the NRHM scheme, started seven years ago, will continue for the next five years following an approval by the Union Cabinet last night.
Referring to the scam, he said the magnitude of irregularities in U.P. was “according to its size” and similar irregularities have been reported from other States also.
Asserting that the government will take stringent measures to check the problem, Mr. Azad said State governments as well as officials will have to account for each paisa spent under the scheme.
The CAG does not audit funds spent by States under NRHM, but it has been done in the case of U.P. following the scam.
The minister said measures like statutory audit, model accounting handbook, and e-banking have been adopted during the last two years to streamline the system.
