The State’s accounting of expenditure on freebies is not clear and does not transparently disclose the nature of details, said the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report for the year ended March 2015.
The report pointed out schemes like free distribution of laptops, marriage assistance schemes, free supply of grinders, mixies, fans, Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance scheme, free distribution of milch cows among others as major schemes.
The report said the government incurred an expenditure of about Rs. 5,049 crore in 2014-15 compared to Rs. 5,235.9 crore in 2013-14.
In 2012-13, the government spent Rs. 4,937.75 crore on freebies.
However, the nature of expenditure incurred on the scheme was not transparently disclosed, it said.
Welfare schemesApart from freebies, the State spent on other welfare schemes which were implemented through various departments. These included support for public distribution system, compensation provided to TNEB for reduction in tariff to domestic customers and reimbursement provided for student concessions in bus fares. That expenditure went up steadily, up by Rs. 727 crore or 7.54 per cent to Rs. 10,373 crore in 2014-15 from Rs. 9,646 crore in the pervious year.
