Claiming that a sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has exposed the financial malfeasance of the State Government, the Opposition Congress on Wednesday charged the ruling BJD with scuttling the formation of the sub-committee.
Walk-out by ruling party members from PAC meeting on Tuesday was a deliberate attempt to save the scam ridden Government from further embarrassment. The PAC sub-committee has thoroughly exposed financial bungling of Government, Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan said at a media conference here.
“The Government is scared after sub-committee exposed the financial wrong doings of different departments at the behest of ministers concerned,” said Harichandan who heads the three-member sub-committee.
Responding to queries, he said several ministers have acted beyond their jurisdiction while giving approval to proposals having huge financial benefit to industrial houses, business organisations and private parties.
The sub-committee has also detected large scale financial irregularities in the departments held by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. To name a few, Steel and Mines, Forest and Water Resources are some of the departments where financial bungling galore, he added.
Harichandan, however, declined to go into details of the matter as the PSAC report has not been submitted in the Assembly. “It would not be proper on my part to disclose the sub-committee findings,” he said.
The Congress leader said the PAC sub-committee constituted on the advice of the Accountant General has done an excellent job and the State Government has not only appreciated its performance but also taken measures to plug the gaps to check revenue leakage and unwanted expenditure of poor tax payers money.
After the sub-committee pointed out wasteful expenditure of about ` 1,000 crore under miscellaneous expense head, the Finance Department took several measures including cancellation of the system of annual procurement of pipes and other materials by the engineering departments.
Alleging that the Government has shown undue favour in land allotment to the industries, Harichandan said Revenue Department while accepting the recommendations of the PAC sub-committee has also submitted action taken report to the committee.
The PAC could not table its report in the budget session of the Assembly as several members of the ruling party requested the PAC Chairman against it as they had not gone through it. Interestingly, all the members were signatory to the PAC report, Harichandan said.
The Tuesday meeting convened by PAC Chairman Bhupinder Singh was supposed to discuss 10 points in the infrastructure development sector. However, BJD MLA Prabhat Biswal insisted on cancellation of the meeting for reason best known to him, Harichandan said.