100 days in power: Koda celebrates despite CAG report

Even though the Comptroller and Auditor General’s latest report has indicted the Jharkhand Government for “increasing” its liabilities

Even though the Comptroller and Auditor General’s latest report has indicted the Jharkhand Government for “increasing” its liabilities, Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s statement on its financial status, released today at a press conference marking the 100 days of UPA government in the state, preferred to keep quiet about it.

While highlighting the Chief Minister’s achievements, its one page statement on sanction/allotment/expenditure for Annual plan 2006-07 (up to October 31) states that the state government could incur an expenditure of 23.53 per cent of its plan outlay of Rs 6500 crore. But only weeks ago, the CAG in its report (2005) had stated that

its revenue expenditure (Rs 6976 crore) constituted 79 per cent of the total expenditure. “Salaries, pension and interest payments consumed nearly 59 per cent of the revenue receipts during the year.”

The CAG report further said, “Fiscal deficit increased by 154 per cent from Rs 874 crore in 2003-4 to Rs 2,217 crore in 2004-5.The fiscal liabilities (Rs 13,512 crore increased during 2004-5 by about 28 per cent over the previous year) stood at nearly two times of revenue receipts.

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Audit of financial transactions carried out by 34 departments and their field functionaries revealed “instances of losses through payment and wasteful expenditure etc of over Rs 37 crore”, noted the CAG report. Koda’s statement, however, remains silent about it.

“We have started to streamline the finance,” said Koda, when probed on the matter.

Koda also claimed to have initiated a move to fill up vacancies in the Jharkhand Rajya Consumer Protection Commission with retired Jharkhand High Court judge Gurusharna Sharma as chairman, install one handpump in every

panchayat, provide two year extension to the State Law Commission and build the 44.8 km long Hatgamahria-Baraiburu highway in his Jagannathpur constituency at the cost of

Rs 1.27 crore.