In another blow to the Bihar administration, the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, released Friday, has found major irregularities in delivering over 3,000 quintals of foodgrain meant for flood-affected people in the state.
The report said that while it was claimed on paper that this had been transported to the flood-affected people, an audit revealed that the trucks through which these had allegedly been transported did not exist. The vehicle registration numbers mentioned by district officials in the records belonged to motorcycles and jeeps. The report expressed the fear that the state government’s “claim of transporting the grain to flood-affected areas (may have) never happened... since the registration numbers of the trucks in the record books appeared to be fake.” It was suspected that “3,115.65 quintals of foodgrains for victims had been misappropriated,” the report added.
The CAG report also pointed to delays in selection of road work projects and in procedural formalities, and noted that none of the road projects selected for 2008-09 could be taken up. Also, “monitoring by higher authorities was inadequate,” the report added.