What happens to the Calamity Relief Fund?
It was Rajiv Gandhi who lamented that for every Rupee spent by the Government, only sixteen paise reach the intended beneficiary. Tragically, this is true of funds spent on tragedies like natural calamities. THE CAG in its report to Parliament for the year 2000, had submitted a study on the way calamity relief funds were used or rather misused. This is what the CAG had to report:-
Calamity Relief Fund and National Fund for Calamity Relief
Although the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) was created with the objective to ensure immediate availability of money to combat natural calamities, contributions received from Central/ State Government were not credited to CRF but were kept in non-interest bearing Personal Deposit account (PDA). In spite of having unspent balance under Jawahar Rojgar Yojana (JRY) and Employment Assurance Scheme(EAS), money was spent from CRF and on inadmissible items which was contrary to procedure. Irregularities were also noticed in payment of wages. Thus, the purpose for which the CRF was created was defeated. Significant points noticed during audit were as follows.
++ The delay in crediting Government of India/State contribution to CRF resulted in loss of interest of Rs 44.40 crore to CRF.
++ State Government invested only Rs 5.20 crore to Rs 97.85 crore in the manner prescribed by Government of India and kept Rs 299.46 crore in non-interest bearing Personal Deposit Account/Government account during 1991-99 in contravention of Government of India guidelines resulting in loss of interest of Rs 35.93 crore.
++ State Government spent Rs 10.38 crore from Calamity Relief Fund during 1990-98 on the items not covered by Government of India norms.
++ State Government drew Rs 110.87 crore from CRF without taking into account the unspent balance of JRY, EAS, etc. during 1992-99.
++ State Government waived recovery of interest of Rs 21.06 lakh and failed to recover Rs 37.90 lakh irregularly paid to Rajasthan Tribal Area Development Co-operative Federation and other agencies.
++ Out of 3394 incomplete works, 3173 were in progress and 221 incomplete works were not taken up in the subsequent years though Rs 1.99 crore were spent on these works.
++ Works valuing Rs 2.77 crore were irregularly executed by mechanical means/contractors in contravention of Government instruction depriving the famine stricken people of employment.
++ 98 works costing Rs 1.76 crore were sanctioned by 5 District Collectors in municipal areas in contravention of State Government instructions.
++ Collector, Banswara adjusted Rs 4.51 crore against the Abstract Contingent bills though it was not supported by any voucher. Thus, expenditure of Rs 4.51 crore appeared to be suspect.
++ Rs 44.39 lakh drawn on Abstract Contingent bills by Collector, Bhilwara during 1987-97 and credited in the Personal Deposit Account of DRDA, Bhilwara remained unutilised.
And these are from available records - God alone knows what lie beneath the accounts, beyond the reach of CAG.
Customs notifications to appoint adjudication officers.
Board has issued notification Nos 141-147-Cus(NT) to appoint adjudication officers for certain DRI cases.