BHUBANESWAR: The government sanctioned Rs 6.06 crore from District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds for foreign education of five students, in blatant violation of the norms, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found.
The CAG has also flagged Rs 14.83 crore spent on free textbooks and uniforms and Rs 4.30 crore on medical coaching programmes through private organisations. Interestingly, just six of the 437 students who were provided medical coaching between 2018-19 and 2023-24 cracked the entrance examinations.
In its performance audit on implementation of Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) and functioning of DMFs in Odisha, the CAG said in Keonjhar district, the DMF sanctioned Rs 6.06 crore in August 2023 to fund five students selected for a Master of Professional Engineering (Mining) course at Curtin University, Australia. The amount covered course fees, health insurance and living expenses. The audit noted that the sanction was made without approval of the DMF Board of Trustees or Executive Committee.
Of the sanctioned amount, Rs 2.57 crore had been spent by December 2024 while Rs 3.49 crore remained unspent. The balance was transferred to four term-deposit accounts of the Government College of Engineering, Keonjhar, in December 2024.
The audit said sponsoring higher studies abroad for a select group of students was not among the permissible educational activities under PMKKKY guidelines or the Odisha DMF Rules.
It estimated that the DMF potentially lost Rs 37.91 lakh in interest by March 2025 because the unspent funds remained idle.
The state government, in its January 2026 reply, said the expenditure was incurred in good faith to empower local youth and was aligned with Sustainable Development Goals and DMF objectives. The CAG, however, did not accept the explanation.
The audit also found that Keonjhar DMF sanctioned Rs 14.83 crore between January 2021 and January 2025 for free textbooks and uniforms for all Class IX and X students. Of this, Rs 10.32 crore was released with utilisation certificates for Rs 9.33 crore submitted by January 2025. The CAG termed the expenditure irregular, saying such costs should have been met from the state budget.
The medical coaching programme was extended in Jajpur. The CAG said the outcome was minuscule compared with the expenditure and held that the spending violated PMKKKY and Odisha DMF provisions.
“It was also noticed that no one from the directly affected (Sukinda) and indirectly affected (Danagadi) blocks of Jajpur district were selected for such training during 2018-19,” the report tabled in the Assembly on Monday said.
