Asom government under CAG scanner over loan recovery

Guwahati, Apr 2(UNI) The Asom government has come under heavy criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) for its 'lax administration' with regards to recovery of loans.

In its report for the fiscal ended on March 31, 2006, the CAG had placed a number of state government departments under "harsh" light for their failures in recovering loans and advances along with interest.

Criticising the government, the report said, ''Due to lax administrative and monitoring mechanism in the loan sanctioning departments, a large amount of loans and advances with interests remained to be recovered from the organisations which took the loans. Further, basic records of loans sanctioned, demands raised and collections had not been maintained.'' As per Finance Accounts 2004-05, the total arrears of loan outstanding under different heads for the whole state stood at Rs 2,607.17 crore.

Among the worst performers, the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) tops the list with an overdue principal amount of Rs 791.49 crore and interest of Rs 713 crore still to be recovered by it.

Significantly, a number of other departments, including Industries and Commerce, Guwahati Development Department, Urban Development, Cooperation Department and Fisheries Department, have failed to maintain detailed accounts of loan and basic records like loan ledger, sanction orders, drawal/collection registers, remittance registers etc, the CAG report stated.

Moreover, 22 controlling officers of the state government did not furnish any statement to the Accountant General within the stipulated time.

Scrutiny of four departments revealed that loan of Rs 121.40 crore sanctioned and drawn from treasury between 1996 and March 2005 was disbursed between April 2000 and March 2005 to 33 loanees after delays ranging from 1 to 3,285 days from the date of drawal from the treasury. The delay in disbursement resulted in a loss of interest of Rs 2.33 crore, the CAG report mentioned.

Indicting the departments, the CAG pointed out that failure on their part to "ensure timely repayment of loans and advances affected the ways and leans of the state exchequer." The CAG also observed that "in some cases the sanctioning authority had not spelt out the terms and conditions covering both repayment of loans and interest chargeable etc".

''Demand notice was neither issued to the loanees for repayment of loan and interest nor was the position of overdue loan and interest watched and monitored by the concerned departments for timely realisation. This was indicative of system failure,'' the report stated.

The CAG report, among its recommendations to the government for better loan recovery mechanism, suggested timely review of loans for prompt realisation of loans and regular maintenance of receipts of repayment of loans and payment of interest.

UNI