CAG slams Assam govt for not running emergency trauma care centres

Guwahati: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pulled up the Assam government’s health and family welfare department for not operationalising emergency trauma care facilities for over eight years in five hospitals in the state.

The facilities, funded completely by the Centre, has not been operationalised due to non-deployment of requisite manpower leading to an idle expenditure of Rs 7.32 crore, according to the CAG report for the year ended March 31, 2019, tabled in the state assembly on Monday.

The emergency trauma care centres were scheduled to be set up in state-run hospitals in Bongaigaon, Haflong, Diphu, Nalbari and Nagaon.

Lack of coordination between the National Health Mission (NHM) and the Health and Family Welfare Department has also led to the dismantling of four buildings constructed by NHM at a cost of Rs 2.36 crore on the land proposed for construction of Dhubri Medical College and Hospital.

Further, the dismantling cost of Rs 13 lakh was borne by the state government, the CAG report pointed out.

The Cash collector of Silchar Medical College and Hospital, appointed on contractual basis, misappropriated Rs 30.54 lakh by short depositing the cash, it said.

The absence of supervision over cash collection, especially of contractual staff, and inadequate monitoring facilitated the defalcation of cash, the report said.

The CAG said that the director of the Assam Minority Development Board (AMDB) irregularly disbursed pre-matric scholarship through Pay Direct Card of a private bank instead of directly transferring the scholarship amount to beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

Besides, Rs 18.60 crore were lying idle with the bank and Rs 13.34 crore with the Board, the report pointed out.

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The state government by providing pension under Compassionate Family Pension Scheme to the dependent family members of government employees dying in harness after April 2017, at a rate of 100 per cent of the last pay drawn till the age of superannuation has put an additional avoidable financial burden on the state exchequer, it said.

The financial outgo under the scheme has been Rs 171.55 crore so far and the audit has estimated an additional financial burden of Rs 156.91 crore per annum on the state budget, the report pointed out.