Call it an irony of sorts. A different yardstick seems to have been adopted to pay compensation to families of farmers, who committed suicide, and for payment of Ministers’ salaries.
In 2015-16, when the unfortunate trend of suicide of farmers reached alarming proportions, the Agriculture Department surrendered Rs. 67.9 lakh, meant for providing compensation to their families, to the government without citing a specific reason. At the same time, the government drew an excess amount of Rs. 3.26 crore from the consolidated salaries account for paying salaries to Ministers without “any intimation”.
This has been brought out by a report — by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India — which was tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday.
The report titled ‘Appropriation Accounts 2015-16’ points out that the surrendered amount was part of the additional funds under “other agricultural schemes – financial assistance” provided through the supplementary provision as well as re-appropriation to meet expenses towards payment of compensation for farmers’ suicides.
