Rs 300cr spent on ineligible work, finds CAG | Bengaluru News
Belagavi: Following an audit of District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT), the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found large-scale diversion of funds collected from mining companies, a violation of Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) rules. Of 3,584 works approved with an allocation of Rs 2,670 crore in four mining-affected districts — Ballari, Chitradurga, Vijayanagara and Gadag — the audit found district administrations sanctioned 212 “ineligible works” worth Rs 300 crore. In Chitradurga, funds meant for environmental preservation and pollution control were used to build enclosures for tigers, birds and leopards at Adumalleshwara zoological park and Binkadatti zoo. The works cost Rs 3.2 crore. In Ballari, money earmarked for physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, railways and waterways was instead spent on high-mast lamps, construction of Nada Kacheris, police stations and quarters, and infrastructure for the new deputy commissioner’s office. These works accounted for Rs 152 crore. CAG also flagged irregular spending in Holalkere, where funds sanctioned for a state forest staff training information and monitoring centre were used to construct a forest department guest house at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. Another Rs 2 crore was spent on a guest house at Vanivilas Sagar, instead of a skill development centre. Similarly, shops instead of a godown were built at Hosadurga govt hospital. The audit pointed to serious lacunae in fund allocation for high-priority sectors such as drinking water supply, environment preservation, afforestation and pollution control, healthcare, education, and the welfare of women, children, the aged and persons with disabilities. Under PMKKKY norms, 60% of DMFT funds must be spent on these priority areas. CAG also highlighted significant gaps in groundwater management, pointing to a “planning without data” approach that has worsened water stress in many districts.The audit found that the Karnataka Groundwater Authority (KGA) lacked time-series data on the number of borewells in the state and on borewells drilled in water-distressed taluks including Belagavi, Chikkaballapur, Davanagere, and Ramanagara (now Bengaluru south district). It also noted that KGA failed to control illegal extraction for commercial purposes via private water tankers and did not enforce the minimum 500m distance between borewells. Several southern districts including Bengaluru Urban, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, and Chitradurga, were classified in the overexploited zone.On flood monitoring, it found that of the 105 sensors installed by Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre at a cost of Rs 1 crore, 49 were non-functional.
