65 lakh of 2 crore ration cards bogus, says CAG
THE CAG REPORT ALSO POINTED TO DUPLICATION IN THE LINKING OF AADHAAR AND BHAMASHAH CARDS, WHICH RESULTED IN EXCESS WHEAT DISTRIBUTION.
JAIPUR: About 65 lakh of the total 2 crore ration cards in the state were fake in March 2018, said a report of the comptroller and auditor general (CAG).
The CAG report for 2018, which was tabled in the assembly on Friday, pointed to a nexus between politicians and bureaucrats which led to making of fake ration cards. It said the state government failed to identify officers and employees responsible for the bogus ration cards and no deterrent action was taken.
The report said in April 2016 the food and civil supplies department carried out an exercise in which it found that 39.32% ration cards in the state were bogus.
The principal secretary of the food and civil supplies department had directed all district collectors to undertake an exercise to eliminate bogus ration cards. But no such exercise was undertaken.
The CAG report also pointed to duplication in the linking of Aadhaar and Bhamashah cards, which resulted in excess wheat distribution.
It said 30,350 Aadhaar numbers were seeded with 95,618 ration cards in 2016-17. This led to 62,526 quintal of wheat amounting to ₹9.54 crore being distributed to these ration card holders during 2016-17.
The report said despite the distribution of wheat through Aadhar/Bhamashah-enabled point of sale which have unique identification features, there were instances of multiple and duplicate ration cards.
CRIMES RELATED TO ENVIRONMENT
A total of 40.59% of the crimes related to environment in the country were committed in Rajasthan during 2014-16, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) .
The report pointed out that despite the fact, state-level interagency coordination committee and wildlife crime control units to combat wildlife crimes were not established in the state.
The crimes were mostly related to violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act -- such as uses of forest land for non-forest purposes without approval of government -- and Wildlife Protect Act -- capturing, poisoning, snaring or trapping of wild animals.
The CAG report, for the year ended March 31, 2018, was tabled in the assembly on Friday. It highlighted that the highest number of crimes related to the environment were committed in Rajasthan from 2014-2016.
Referring to the data by the National Crime Records Bureau (October 2017), the report mentions that 15,723 cases of crimes related to environment were registered in the country during 2014-16 and the number of cases in the state during this period was 6,382, which is 40.59 per cent.
“Non-constitution of state level inter-agency coordination committee and non-establishment of ‘Wildlife Crime Control Units’ in the department and in the state police despite directions of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Government of India, was indicative of the inaction on part of the department to prevent environment crimes in the state,” the report said.
It pointed out that tourist activities in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR) and Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) could not be regulated in the absence of local advisory committee (LAC) which caused disturbance to wild animals. In Ranthambhore, the report says, five of the 10 zones of core areas were not closed in monsoon seasons, contrary to the directions of the National Tiger Conservatory Authority (NTCA).
Despite the fact that the entire area of zone 1-10 of RTR is designated as core area, the department closed only zone one-five of the RTR during monsoon season (July-September) during 20152018, while zone six-10 remained open.
Scrutiny of records revealed that between July and September of these years, 24,647 tourists visited the park and it would have caused disturbance to the eight tigers who had territories in these zones, the report said.