The Hindu Business Line : CAG castigates post-tsunami relief process

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has castigated the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Environment and Forests, State governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Union Territories of Pondicherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands on the post-relief and rehabilitation measures, following the earthquake generated tsunami that hit 27.92 lakh people in 1089 villages in 2004.

In its report, tabled in Parliament today, the CAG said while the affected States/UTs had projected a requirement of financial assistance of Rs 11,796.40 crore, the MHA sanctioned Rs 3,644.05 crore based on the recommendation of the Central team for a sum of Rs 5,690.81 crore. As a sum of Rs 1,607.01 crore was made over to the long-term reconstruction programme, the affected States/UTs were left with only Rs 1,759.05 crore for immediate relief and rehabilitation.

Stating that the system of assessment of the damage needs to be made more transparent so that the States do not overpitch their demand, the report said the States also need to be "realistic" enough in projecting their requirements for immediate relief assistance since large amounts of released assistance remained unutilised as of March 2006.

Audit scrutiny of the measures taken for tsunami relief and rehabilitation revealed that the Ministry of Environment & Forests had not enforced environmental laws effectively which led to extensive destruction in the coastal areas. None of the State/UTs authorities prepared the Coastal Zone Management Plan. Disaster Management Authorities were constituted in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and UTs & Pondicherry when even such a Disaster Management Acts had not been enacted. Kerala and Pondichery did not even have a declared disaster management policy.

A sum of Rs 44.88 crore meant for tsunami relief was "diverted to committed liabilities and administrative expenditure", while expenditure of Rs 4.95 crore was incurred in excess of norms due to wrong application of rates and non-adherence of codal provisions. The report lamented that beneficiaries were adversely hit due to non-utilisation of Rs 17.31 crore, while poor utilisation led to surrender of funds.

The report said while advances drawn were lying unadjusted for long periods in violation of rules, in Tamil Nadu, relief amount of Rs 6.38 crore was "irregularly disbursed for 3330 unregistered catamarans in four districts". Pointing out that deficiencies in identification led to inadmissible payments and shortfall in coverage of relief measures, the report cited the case of Tamil Nadu where relief packages were provided to 88,011 families against 63,032 families sanctioned, resulting in excess expenditure of Rs 6.33 crore.

Stating that sustenance allowance was not distributed to 77,322 families, the report noted that about 2,742 temporary shelters constructed in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 2.58 crore could not be put to use as these were constructed in low lying areas which were waterlogged due to rain. Out of 4,721 shelters, the victims did not occupy 3,026 temporary shelters constructed at a cost of Rs 1.76 crore.

In providing assistance to the fishing sector, the assessment of damages was inadequate and the claims were not verified properly. Nominees of deceased fishermen did not receive the benefit of insurance in Pondicherry. Blaming the States/UTs for "inadequate monitoring" of actual relief measures, the report also indicted the Ministry of Home Affairs for not monitoring implementations of its instructions effectively.

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