MP News: Audit Of Panchayats Expose Irregularities Worth ₹170 Crore

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Financial irregularities galore in the state panchayats. A host of such irregularities came to light in the local fund audit report of 2021-22.

The report, prepared on the basis of an audit of 32 Janpad Panchayats and 4,674 Gram Panchayats, was presented before the House during the budget session.

According to sources, the report exposed irregularities worth Rs 170 crore. Because the MP Store Purchase and Service Procurement Rules-2015 were not followed, an irregular payment of Rs 69 crore was made.

The village panchayats did not present the bills worth over Rs 34 crore to the auditors.

The Panchayats made an irregular payment worth Rs 21 crore. In this way, panchayats caused financial loss to the panchayat coffers.

A sum of Rs 7 crore received from various projects was misused. On the other hand, a sum of Rs 1.45 crore was not recovered, and a sum of Rs 1.45 crore given as an advance payment was not adjusted.

Cases of additional payments in Panchayats, double payments and payments to the employees against the government s instructions came to light.

Janpad Panchayats do not prepare balance sheet

There are rules that the district panchayats and Janpad Panchayats should present annual accounts every year and get them approved by holding a meeting. According to the audit report, out of 32, 29 Janpad Panchayats did not prepare their annual accounts. Only the Vidisha Panchayat got its budget approved. No other panchayats did it. Similarly, in the village panchayats, whichever Panchayats did their audit did not get their budgets approved.

Panchayats not getting their social audit done

The previous name of the G RAM G scheme was MNREGA. According to rules, there should be a social audit of the programme once in six months.

During the local fund audit, it came to light that out of 4,674 village Panchayats, only 67 panchayats in Timrani and 12 village panchayats in Sagar got the social audit done.