Leader of Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui meets reporters at the party chamber in the Assembly and (below) Lok Janshakti Party’s Bihar unit president Pashupatinath Paras speaks to reporters at the LJP office in Patna on Friday. The RJD compared the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) land allotment issue with 2G spectrum scam and said both cases have followed the first-come-first-serve theory, resulting in corruption. Siddiqui said the system followed by both Biada as well as the 2G spectrum authorities smacked favouritism. Pictures by Deepak Kumar and Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, July 22: Taking a strong note on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report that has pointed out financial irregularities in abstract contingency (AC) and detailed contingency (DC) bills, the RJD and the LJP today demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

“The recent report, which has been presented by the CAG is shocking and some of the facts disclosed that a number of financial irregularities has been done by the present regime. For example, the Total Sanitation Campaign, which is a comprehensive programme of the central government. In this programme a nominal subsidy in the form of incentive is given to people living below poverty line but the CAG report says that over Rs 26 crore where given by the Centre but over Rs 13 crore were given to those who did not belong to the BPL category,” said Leader of Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

He added: “The report has raised serious question over the working style of the state government, therefore we demand CBI probe into the matter.”

On the AC/DC bill, Siddiqui said: “The government is authorised to draw money through AC bills to meet the expenditure of the state but at the same time they are required to present DC bills along with original vouchers to the accountant-general of Bihar by the end of six months from the drawl of all AC bills or the DC bills must be submitted by the end of financial year. But at present, about 65,000 numbers of AC bills worth Rs 18,000 crore are pending since 2002.”

Attacking the Nitish Kumar government Siddiqui said: “Out of Rs 18,000 crore of DC bills, the state government has submitted the bills of just Rs 14,000 crore. Of this, the CAG have scrutinised bills worth Rs 11,000 crore in which a meagre amount of Rs 6,400 crore could be settled.”

He added: “What about the others bills? The reality is something else. They don’t have the bills because the money was withdrawn for nothing. Therefore, they are trying to submit the fake bills. It has affected the economy of the state badly and a CBI probe is the only way to get a clear picture.”

On the other hand, the LJP state president Pashupati Kumar Paras said at the party office that the CAG report is enough evidence to check the financial irregularities of the Nitish Kumar government.

“The pending DC bill shows that how much money is looted by the government. With this regard we have requested President Pratibha Patil to implement financial emergency in the state under article 360 of the Indian Constitution. We also demanded a CBI probe into the matter and if it does not happen in the next 15 days the party would start a vehement protest against the Nitish Kumar government,” Paras added.