Bhubaneswar: CAG has flagged Rs 24.30 crore in excess spending on dual desks and Rs 7.39 crore in wasteful expenditure on duplicate e-content procurement for govt schools, besides detecting suspected fraud and misappropriation in funds under the state’s 5T High School Transformation Programme (HSTP) and Mo School Abhiyan.The audit also found irregular grant allocations, funding of an ineligible institution and lapses in fund transfers and procurement, pointing to weaknesses in financial controls under the school education schemes.Under HSTP, Rs 57.95 lakh was spent on Badachana Women’s Higher Secondary School, despite it being a private institution for classes XI and XII students. HSTP guidelines stipulated that govt or govt-aided secondary schools with classes IX and X were eligible for funding.Mo School Abhiyan Society (MSAPS) released Rs 18.93 crore as matching grants to 42 schools in Ganjam district in April 2022, with allocations ranging from Rs 30.67 lakh to Rs 1.07 crore per school. As the admissible amount was Rs 30 lakh per school, CAG termed the allotment irregular and lacking transparency.At Ranihat High School in Cuttack, the audit found suspected misappropriation of Rs 12.48 lakh from HSTP and Mo School Abhiyan funds. It also flagged a suspected fraudulent payment of Rs 30 lakh at Nandipur High School under Dasarathpur block. The money was transferred through cheques from the school’s bank account to a third-party account instead of the account of BDO, Dasarathpur.The audit found that 16 sampled executing agencies procured dual desks worth Rs 42.71 crore through quotation call notices or on a nomination basis, contrary to procurement guidelines and finance department instructions. The procurement resulted in excess expenditure of Rs 24.30 crore, it said. In Jaleswar, a separate suspected fraudulent payment of Rs 4.95 lakh was detected in May 2022, with expenditure shown towards repair of dual desks.CAG also found Rs 7.39 crore in wasteful expenditure on duplicate e-content procurement for 430 schools in Jajpur district. OSEPA procured the e-content while the same was also procured from EdCIL. The duplication was attributed to lack of coordination between OSEPA and Jajpur district administration.
