A report submitted by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in August 2018 has revealed that the former Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi party government, led by Akhilesh Yadav was unable to account for around ₹97,000 crores in government funds which were apparently spent by them when in power. The report criticises the former government for syphoning off the money in the name of various government schemes during its regime.
According to the report, the Akhilesh government did not ever submit any documentary evidence to substantiate that the funds have been appropriately used. It furthered that out of the funds of ₹97,000, crores only ₹26,000 crores have been spent in Social Welfare, Education and Panchayat Department for which no utilisation certificate was provided either. The rest of the money also remained unaccounted, said the report.
In the report submitted in August 2018, it has been said that the previous government has not been able to deposit the ‘Utility Certificate’ of the amount. For this reason, the conjecture of misuse of such a large amount has emerged. It was said that from 2014 to 31st March 2017, the SP government has apparently spent crores on over 2.5 lac activities which remain unaccounted.
The report specified that whenever a particular budget is laid out for any department under a specific government scheme, the deadlines are also specified and every department is bound to submit a ‘utilisation report’ after the deadline concludes. It further stated that the onus also lies on the department sanctioning the budget as future budgeting would directly depend on how the previous money was utilised.
Yogi government spokesperson and Health Minister Siddhartha Nath Singh, lambasted saying that the CAG had exposed a similar fraud during the UPA regime. Singh was quoted saying, “corruption and its foundation were started by Mayawati in this state, Akhilesh Yadav has brought that tree, on the basis of the report, the government will investigate. I can say that the answer can be difficult for Akhilesh .”
On the other hand, SP has described this issue as politically motivated. SP spokesperson Sunil Yadav said that the CAG report does not prove any point. It is just an estimate, said the Samajwadi party spokesperson, dismissing the report.
Samajwadi party supremo Akhilesh Yadav had left the media buzzing for quite sometime when the ‘Samajwad’ left his government accommodation in ruins after he was asked to vacate it on Supreme Court’s orders. Recently during an event by a TV Channel, Akhilesh had regretted not killing a journalist for calling him, Aurangzeb.
