ARA MP RAISED THE ISSUE OF BIHAR’S 70 THOUSAND CRORE SCAME IN LOK SABHA

ARA MP RAISED THE ISSUE OF BIHAR’S 70 THOUSAND CRORE SCAME IN LOK SABHA

1-AUG-ENG 27

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA--------------------------The issue of 70 thousand crore scam in Bihar was raised by Ara MP Sudama Prasad in the monsoon session in the Lok Sabha.

He said that I express my deep concern over the serious revelations made in the recently released CAG report (2023–24) on Bihar's state finances. According to the report, an amount of ₹ 70,877.61 crore was distributed to various schemes and departments, but their Utilization Certificates (UCs) have not been submitted yet. This relates to a total of 49,649 certificates, which raises questions on the entire fund utilization. The departments where the maximum financial opaqueness has been detected are Panchayati Raj Department – ₹28,154 crore, Education Department – ₹12,623 crore, Urban Development Department – ₹11,065 crore

This is not just procedural negligence, but evidence of financial misgovernance at the institutional level. According to Section 271(E) of the Bihar Treasury Code, submission of UCs within 18 months is mandatory. The state government has not only violated this rule but also three national accounting standards, namely IGAS 1, 2, and 3.

What is even more worrying is the fact that withdrawals of ₹9,205.76 crore were made through 22,130 abstract contingent bills, while detailed contingent bills have not been submitted in lieu of these yet—a clear violation of financial sanctity.

1. Where did the amount of more than ₹70,000 crore go?

2. Why is there no audit trail for this?

3. Who is accountable for this?

The state's GSDP may have increased by 14.47%, but the government surrendered only 36% of the savings and did not use more than 20% of its budgetary provisions. This situation clearly reflects financial misgovernance and administrative failure.

It is clear that the BJP-JDU double engine government has failed miserably and has encouraged open loot of the hard-earned money of the public.

The above information was released in a press release by the MP's personal secretary Chandan Kumar.