The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on Monday said farmers of Odisha suffered a lot and were deprived of assistance under various schemes due to negligence of the State Government.
The CAG made this remark in its Economic Sector report for year ended March 2015 placed in the State Assembly on Monday.
As per the Odisha Government direction, crop loans were disbursed at 5 per cent interest per annum from Rabi 2008 onwards. However, the Orissa State Cooperative Bank (OSCB) did not adhere to the guidelines and claimed excess interest subvention of `263.55 crore and of this claim, the Government had already paid `226.27 crore.
Natural calamity-hit farmers were deprived of relief under the ‘Annewari’ programme as the district Collectors did not issue required certificates to them.
The Government adopted blocks or districts as units of insurance instead of panchayat in respect of all crops except paddy leading to inaccuracy in calculation of loss of crop yield, it said.
Similarly, the extent of cropped areas was not considered while notifying the crops and districts for coverage under insurance. The notifications for implementation of the schemes for Kharif and Rabi seasons were issued much after the date of commencement of the seasons, leading to low coverage of non-loanee fanners, it said.
It observed that since crop cutting experiment was less than the mandatory numbers, the Union Government declined to bear its share of claims resulting in extra financial burden on the State Government.
Delay in submission of yield data to Agricultural Insurance Company (AIC) coupled with non-creation of corpus delayed the settlement of claims. Delay in submission of declaration of insurance proposals and misclassification of proposals by the nodal banks resulted in non-settlement of claims of the farmers.
Claims which were released by the AIC were credited to the farmers’ accounts with delay by PACS.
Regarding its observation on the Animal Resources Development Sector, the CAG said the department was not taking adequate action to achieve the targets set in the Perspective Plan (PP).
As envisaged in PP, New livestock Aid Centres could not be provided to each panchayat by March 2015 and construction of a new Semen Station and an Embryo Transfer Technology laboratory was not completed even by March 2015 although proposed to be completed by 2012-13, the report remarked.
There was shortfall in production of fodder, certified seed and distribution of mini kits for seasonal cultivation and perennial root slips for long term fodder production.
Due to non-implementation of planned activities, actual production of milk in Odisha continues to be less than the target, it said.
48 hatcheries set up during 2009-11 remained defunct indicating lack of seriousness of the department in operationalisation of the hatcheries.
Target set for Mobile Veterinary Units remained unachieved.
The Cooperation Department could not utilise funds available for creation of market infrastructure. Some of the Krushak Bazaars set up under the Chief Minister’s 12-point programme to facilitate direct marketing by farmers were not functional due to isolated locations.
It revealed that there was wide gap between agricultural production and arrival of produce of main crops to the market yards.
Similarly, the performance audit of the Water Resources Department stated that check dams constructed without shutters had defeated the very purpose of the dams.
Works not urgent in nature were awarded to the (Orissa Construction Corporation limited (OCCl) at their offered rates, which is 8 to 25 per cent in excess of sanctioned estimates, resulting in extra cost of `56.45 crore and non-levy of liquidated damage of `10.79 crore for non-completion of works within due date led to extension of undue benefit to the OCC.
The performance audit of the Employment and Technical Education and Training Department revealed that there was inadequate fund provision in the scheme to create required infrastructure in two universities and seven colleges despite increase in intake of students. lack of laboratory and workshop facilities in these institutes deprived the students of required practical knowledge as per syllabus. Due to deficiency of infrastructure, approval of All India Council for Technical Education could not be obtained for the newly introduced courses. There was shortage of required faculties as per AICTE norms in all the colleges and universities. lack of monitoring also resulted in delay in completion of infrastructure work.
The Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) failed in drawing a definite policy which resulted in irregular expenditure of `14.73 crore towards promotion of commercial interest of its own and others under the “Corporate Social Responsibility activities” in a non-transparent and arbitrary manner.