CAG Audits Unveiled: Glaring Issues from Recent Years in India
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India is often called the “guardian of the public purse,” tasked with auditing government finances to ensure accountability and transparency. In recent years, its reports have exposed glaring issues — financial mismanagement, procedural lapses, and systemic inefficiencies — that raise tough questions about governance. From infrastructure delays to questionable spending, here’s a dive into some standout CAG findings since 2020, backed by data and real-world impact.
Bharatmala Pariyojana: Roads to Nowhere?
The ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana, launched in 2017 to build 34,800 km of highways, hit a pothole in the CAG’s 2023 audit (Report №9 of 2023). The report flagged cost overruns and delays in 104 sampled projects. Originally pegged at ₹5.35 lakh crore, costs ballooned by 18% in some stretches, with ₹2,23,000 crore spent by March 2022 against sluggish progress — only 34% of awarded projects completed. The CAG pointed to poor planning: 66 projects worth ₹1.23 lakh crore were greenlit without finalized alignments or detailed project reports (DPRs), risking waste. In Uttar Pradesh, ₹1,200 crore was spent on a highway segment later abandoned due to land disputes. The takeaway? Haste in approvals outpaced execution, leaving taxpayers footing the bill for half-built roads.
Ayushman Bharat: Healthcare Promises, Delivery Gaps
The CAG’s 2023 performance audit of Ayushman Bharat (Report №8 of 2023) uncovered a healthcare scheme riddled with cracks. Meant to provide ₹5 lakh per family annually to 10 crore households, it treated 4.5 crore patients by 2022 — but at what cost? The audit found ₹6.47 crore paid for treatments of 3,446 patients already listed as “dead” in the system, hinting at fraud or data errors. In Tamil Nadu, ₹7.5 crore was disbursed to private hospitals without verifying patient eligibility. Worse, 88,760 beneficiaries held invalid IDs, including mobile numbers like “9999999999.” The CAG slammed lax oversight and delayed insurer payments — hospitals waited up to 200 days — jeopardizing care quality. A flagship scheme tripped by sloppy execution.
Coal Block Allocation: Echoes of Past Scandals
Remember the 2012 Coalgate uproar? The CAG’s 2022 audit (Report №10 of 2022) suggests lessons weren’t fully learned. It examined 31 coal blocks allocated between 2014 and 2021 and found ₹1,176 crore in undue benefits to private firms due to lax monitoring. In Jharkhand, a lessee extracted 1.2 million tonnes beyond approved limits, dodging ₹87 crore in penalties. The audit also flagged delays: only 11 of 31 blocks were operational by 2021, despite auctions promising a coal-starved nation swift output. India imported 209 million tonnes of coal in 2022–23 (Ministry of Coal data), costing ₹2.6 lakh crore — money that could’ve stayed home with better oversight. History repeating itself, one under-audited block at a time.
Railways’ Dedicated Freight Corridor: Freight on Hold
The Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), a ₹81,459 crore project to revolutionize rail logistics, stumbled under CAG scrutiny in 2022 (Report №6 of 2022). By March 2021, only 628 km of the 2,843-km target was operational — 17 years after inception. Costs soared 85% above estimates, with ₹13,000 crore in loans piling up as interest due to delays. The CAG highlighted land acquisition snarls: 1,200 hectares remained disputed, stalling 40% of the Eastern Corridor. Meanwhile, freight traffic grew just 3% annually against a 10% target. A lifeline for industry became a cautionary tale of mismanagement, with taxpayers bearing the burden of stalled ambition.
Delhi’s Liquor Excise Mess
In 2022, the CAG turned its lens on Delhi’s 2021–22 excise policy (Report №3 of 2022), sparking political firestorms. The audit found ₹144 crore in irregular refunds to liquor licensees after the policy’s abrupt rollback, lacking documentation. Worse, ₹1,873 crore in potential revenue was lost due to unadjusted license fees and unverified sales data. The AAP government’s push for private retail — hyped as a revenue booster — backfired, with 25% of liquor vends shutting mid-year. The CAG criticized opaque decision-making and weak enforcement, turning a reform into a fiscal fiasco. Public funds, it seems, drowned in the liquor policy’s chaos.
State PSUs: Accountability in Limbo
A recurring CAG theme is the opacity of state public sector undertakings (PSUs). In 2023, Report №1 of 2023 noted 60+ PSUs across states hadn’t submitted financial statements for audits — some pending since 2018. In Telangana, 22 PSUs owed ₹1,200 crore in dues, untracked due to delayed filings. The CAG estimated a cumulative loss of ₹1.5 lakh crore across 1,017 PSUs nationwide by 2021–22, with 40% non-functional yet unliquidated. This isn’t just red tape — it’s a black hole swallowing public money, shielded from scrutiny.
The Bigger Picture
These audits paint a troubling pattern: ambitious projects undermined by poor planning, weak oversight, and questionable priorities. The CAG’s 2024 press releases highlight ongoing woes — ₹144.88 crore irregularly paid to Odisha’s private COVID hospitals (Report №14 of 2024) and ₹724 crore in unverified BharatNet spending (Report №11 of 2024). India’s press freedom rank (150th in 2024, Reporters Without Borders) and rising inequality (Gini coefficient at 35.7, World Bank 2021) amplify the stakes — unaccounted funds hit the vulnerable hardest.
Yet, the CAG’s role isn’t just to scold. Its reports, tabled in Parliament, fuel Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probes, sometimes spurring reform — like post-2G spectrum auction rules. The fix? Stronger pre-project vetting, real-time audits, and teeth for CAG recommendations. Until then, these glaring issues remind us: transparency isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity.
