Bhubaneswar, Sept. 16: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has rapped the state government for its 'failure to make special intervention for development of Maoist-affected areas in the state'. It also questioned the use of chopper by the state government officials to fight the Maoists.

In its report which was presented in the Assembly today, the CAG said: 'Between February 2013 and September 2015, out of 341 sorties conducted by the Dauphin helicopter, only 53 sorties were for security-related purposes and the remaining sorties were made for surveillance and monitoring by various officers and ministers, which were not admissible under Security Related Expenditure Scheme guidelines.'

The CAG further said even the central government had objected to it and did not reimburse Rs 18.03 crore towards hiring charges of choppers due to lack of prior approval. It also questioned the special intervention programmes in the areas of development, security and rights recognition which were not implemented properly.

The watchdog expressed its concern on how the execution of security-related works by the Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation Limited was marred due to delayed execution of critical infrastructure projects such as special operations group (SOG) hub at Koraput, hub for Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and additional fortification work.

'Despite sanction of Rs 6.50 core in 2010-11 to construct a CRPF hub at Muniguda, the work had not started till August, 2016,' the CAG observed in its report. Even 20 barracks for security forces sanctioned during 2003-11 had remained incomplete after spending Rs 12.21 crore. ' During joint inspection of two incomplete barracks, it was found that the security forces were staying in these barracks without electricity, toilets and other basic facilities,' the report said, adding that anti-naxal support equipment was neither supplied nor available in the 'fortified' police stations.

The CAG also said that the selection of projects for the development of areas were not need based. 'Funds management under the schemes was deficient due to irregular diversion of funds, non-refund of savings and interests earned by the executing agencies and loss of central assistance of Rs 504.30 crore,' the report said.

The CAG found that 607 projects in five districts with an estimated project value of Rs 30.38 crore had not commenced till March 2016 despite expiry of the scheme period under Integrated Action Plant in March 2015. There were also instances of delay and non-payment of ex-gratia to the families of deceased security personal and civilian victims.

State finance

The CAG also expressed its concern over the state of the finance of the state and raised its eyebrows on the implementation of sewerage work at various places. Public debt has increased from Rs 24,618 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 33,757 crore in 2015-16, registering an increase of 37.12 per cent in five years. During this period, there was an overall saving of Rs 16,717.36 crore, which makes the case of increase in public debt all the more interesting. But the savings were mainly due to non-implementation of schemes and less requirement of funds.

'Major policy initiatives in the budget could not be implemented due to lack of planning. There were savings of Rs 8,329.66 crore in 10 cases under eight grants and two appropriations exceeding Rs 100 crore in each case,' said the report, pointing out that monthly expenditure during the year was highly erratic.

The total revenue receipts of the government for 2015-16 was Rs 68,941 crore against Rs 56,997.88 core in the previous year. Of this, the state raised Rs 22,526.96 crore as tax and Rs 8,711.24 crore through non-tax revenue. The remaining fund was the central share through divisible Union tax of Rs 23,573.78 crore and grants-in-aid of Rs 14,129.46 crore.