Amid the 77th Independence Day celebrations, a scathing report against the Modi government has come to light - flagging massive discrepancies in the database of a centrally sponsored health scheme and the high cost of Dwarka Expressway project.
The damning report, which exposes the alleged corruption in road projects as well as government schemes by the Centre, was submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
The Congress was quick to react on the development, alleging that the CAG report has exposed the “sheer corruption and incompetence of the Modi government.”
“But will he have the courage to question his own government and his ministers on their corruption and incompetence?” asked Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh, in a veiled attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ramesh shared a few of the alleged irregularities in the government projects and schemes highlighted by the CAG.
"CAG has flagged an overall cost overrun of more than 100 per cent in the much-hyped Bharatmala Pariyojana. This project was approved and monitored by none other than the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) that is chaired by the Prime Minister," he said.
He said that the sanctioned cost of the 26,316 km of highways that have been awarded was Rs 8,46,588 crore, as against the CCEA-approved length of 34,800 km at a cost of Rs 5,35,000 crore.
"This means that these projects were awarded at a cost of Rs 32.17 crore per km, more than double the cost of Rs 15.37 crore per km approved by the CCEA. Despite multiple cost overruns, only 13,499 km of national highways have been completed till 31 March 2023, less than 39 per cent of the CCEA-approved length," Ramesh said.
He further said that the CAG report highlighted irregularities in the Bharatmala bidding process – successful bidders not fulfilling tender conditions, bidders being selected on the basis of falsified documents or work awarded without approved detailed project reports.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh, during a presser on Monday, said that all the Bharatmala projects were contracted to the Adani Group in several states in the country including Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat.
“Under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, 75,000 km of roads were to be constructed at the rate of ₹15 crore per km. However, the Modi government increased the cost to ₹25 crore per km, thereby committing a scam worth ₹7.5 lakh crore in the project,” he said.
Further, the audit report by the CAG also found several discrepancies Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) scheme that led to massive spending on ineligible beneficiaries – the faults in the database include invalid names, unrealistic dates of birth, duplicate health IDs and unrealistic family sizes.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said, "BJP's corruption and loot is taking the nation on a highway to hell." He said the CAG had pointed out “innumerable, non-compliance of outcome parameters, clear violation of tender bidding process and huge funding mismanagement”.
“Pradhan Mantri-ji, you need to look within, before you harp about Corruption against your opponents, because you are overseeing it yourself. In 2024, I.N.D.I.A will make your government accountable,” he tweeted.
AAP supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also slammed the Modi government over the CAG report.
"Modi government has broken all records of corruption spanning 75 years," Kejriwal tweeted.
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