Guwahati: A recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in the Assam Assembly on March 25, exposed significant financial irregularities in the state’s Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

According to the report, spanning the financial years 2021-22 to 2022-23, no Zilla Parishad (ZP) in Assam had its annual budget approved between 2018 and 2023, despite the regular release and expenditure of funds. This practice blatantly contravenes the mandatory requirement of budget approval prior to spending.

The CAG findings indicate that only 7 to 50 per cent of ZPs submitted their budgets to the Commissioner of Panchayat and Rural Development (P&RD) during this period. However, even these submissions failed to secure approval due to procedural lapses. Despite this, funds continued to flow to and were spent by the PRIs, pointing to a serious breakdown in financial oversight and discipline, the report emphasized.

Further compounding the issue, the CAG noted that the devolution of funds, responsibilities, and personnel to PRIs in Assam remains incomplete. Although activity mapping was carried out for 23 of the 29 designated subjects, only seven have been officially transferred to PRIs, with no functions handed over as of October 2023.

The report also flagged a massive backlog of 456 pending utilisation certificates (UCs) as of March 2023, related to grants totalling Rs 3,971.52 crore disbursed to the P&RD Department between 2001-02 and 2021-22. Without these certificates, the CAG could not confirm whether the funds were utilized for their intended purposes.

Additionally, the report highlighted unresolved audit concerns, with 1,684 audit paragraphs from 2018 to 2023, involving Rs 1,660.80 crore, still awaiting action due to inadequate responses or compliance from the authorities. The findings paint a troubling picture of governance and accountability in Assam’s rural administration, raising urgent questions about the management of public funds.