Summary:
Dehradun: A report prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for the year ended March 2017 which was tabled in the state assembly on Thursday claimed that the declaration made by the Uttarakhand government that the state’s rural areas were Open Defecation Free (ODF) was incorrect. According to the data, the APO for 2016-17, covering 9674 hectare (ha) area at a cost of Rs 84.47 crore was proposed against the coverage area of 32,633 hectare targeted in the DPR during the same period at a cost of Rs 358.91 crore. The audit also found 71% of toilets being built without technical assistance, 70% being constructed outside the residential premises and 19% without water facilities.The report also pointed at a mismatch between the detailed project reports (DPRs) of Forestry Intervention of Ganga (FIG) and approved annual action plan of operation (APO). In the section titled ‘Compliance Audit’ of the construction of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), the report states, “The planning and implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission by the state was found inadequate as against the target of 546 community sanitary complexes, only 63 and out of total 4,485 solid and liquid waste management structures, only 50 were constructed up to March 2017. “Sixty-five of the 112 nallahs that were identified in priority towns are still to be tapped resulting in discharge of 26.292 million litre per day of sewage directly into the river Ganga or its tributaries,” the report said.The almost 200-page report came as an embarrassment to the state government which had in June last year announced that Uttarakhand had become the fourth ODF state in the country.Reacting to the report’s findings, finance minister Prakash Pant said, “The points raised in the CAG report would be soon taken up with the concerned officials and corrective action would be taken.”.