CAG report nails Centre for denying funds to fight floods in Northeast India

A report by the CAG reveals Centre's denial of funds to fight floods in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

Guwahati, July 22: A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed how ruling parties at the Centre have long neglected the flood situation in three northeastern states--Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur--by not releasing the entire funds meant to fight natural calamities.

The CAG report, placed in Parliament on Friday, exposes the Centre's apathy towards the flood-affected people of these states, as a huge chunk of flood assistance funds were not released between April 2007 and March 2016.

The report has come to light at a time when several parts of the Northeast region, including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland are battling floods and landslides.

The CAG report stated that Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur received 60 per cent, 78 per cent and eight per cent less flood assistance respectively from the Centre between April 2007 and March 2016.

The report highlights that insufficient flow of funds adversely affected implementation of various schemes to fight floods in these states.

Assam which was supposed to receive Rs 2,043.19 crore to implement 141 projects received only Rs 812.22 crore from the Centre. Thus the state was denied Rs 1,230.97 crore or 60 per cent of the allocated funds by the Centre. Further, the state government did not release 84 per cent of the allocated budget provision, stated the CAG report.

In fact, recently Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brief him about the ongoing floods in the state that have affected more than 25 lakh people across 29 districts.

Around 70 people have died due to floods in the state, this monsoon.

The CAG found that in Arunachal Pradesh, 10 flood management projects were approved in 2010-11 and were meant to be completed within two to three financial years.

"There was a shortfall in release of central assistance by 78 per cent. This led to a delay in the commencement of the projects. Hence, they remain to be completed," said the CAG report.

In Manipur, the Centre was supposed to release Rs 96.81 crore of which it released Rs 89.31 crore, a shortfall of Rs 7.42 crore or eight per cent.

"The delay in release of central assistance to state governments from the date of approval of empowered committee resulted in delay in commencement and completion of works," the report said.

The shortfall in central flood assistance to these three states was detected by the CAG during its performance audit on schemes for flood control and flood forecasting sanctioned during the Eleventh and Twelfth plans from 2007 to 2016.

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