Patna: The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) tabled in the Bihar legislative assembly on Thursday highlighted the govt’s inability to collect revenue effectively. According to the report presented by finance minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, revenue arrears stood at Rs 4,844 crore as of March 31, 2023, of which Rs 1,430 crore had been pending for more than five years.The report further revealed that utilisation certificates (UCs) amounting to Rs 92,133 crore were either pending or unavailable in Bihar till March 31, 2025, raising serious concerns over financial accountability. It also flagged irregularities in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), including instances of houses being sanctioned to children and geo-tagging of houses located in Delhi and Jharkhand.“During test-check of records of the sampled districts, audit observed instances of sanction of houses to ineligible beneficiaries. There was no provision for registration/sanction of houses to minors in the PMAY-G. The central government had clarified in Sept 2017 that if the beneficiary husband and wife both had died then the minor child, whose name was displayed in the list, may be sanctioned a house jointly with the guardian or officer of the block/panchayat, after verification. However, the audit revealed four cases of minor beneficiaries,” the report stated.RJD MLA Kumar Sarvjeet alleged that a goods and services tax (GST) input tax scam had occurred in Bihar, claiming that Rs 200 crore was returned to businesses without tax payment. He further alleged that Rs 4,844 crore remained outstanding as of March 31, 2023. “Of this, Rs 1,430 crore has been pending for the past five years. The transport department has also been accused of irregularities. The report states that fitness certificates for vehicles were issued without following SOPs. This has resulted in a loss of crores of rupees to the govt exchequer,” he said.According to the CAG report, taxes and duties on electricity amounted to Rs 20 crore, goods and services to Rs 32 crore, state excise to Rs 543 crore, and mining and metallurgical industries to Rs 1,505 crore.The report also stated that Rs 2,371 crore was outstanding under sales tax, of which Rs 1,289 crore had been pending for more than five years. Additionally, Rs 2,485 crore was outstanding under goods and passenger taxes. Outstanding dues included Rs 20 crore on electricity taxes and duties, Rs 32 crore on goods and services, Rs 543 crore on state excise and Rs 1,505 crore on mining and metallurgical industries.The mines and geology department has not provided details of arrears pending for more than five years. A land revenue auction has been initiated to recover dues.According to the report, agricultural input subsidies worth Rs 21 crore were provided to 10 districts in 2019 despite them not being declared flood-affected. Applicants in 14 other districts received Rs 4 crore in areas not included in the disaster-affected list.During 2019 and 2020, subsidies worth Rs 151 crore were distributed across an area 1.34 lakh hectares larger than the identified crop damage area. Non-compliance with State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) norms resulted in overpayments of Rs 3 crore. Incorrect database mapping and violations of rules led to excess, underpayment or irregular payments amounting to Rs 56 crore in 15.53 lakh cases.Between 2019 and 2022, subsidies worth Rs 159 crore were provided in 6.81 lakh cases despite crop damage being less than 33 %.The report also stated that Rs 183 crore was outstanding in vehicle taxes. The transport department has not furnished details of dues pending for more than five years nor clarified their status. Regarding land revenue, Rs 302 crore remained outstanding, and the department has not provided details for five years.
