A massive increase has been observed in financial irregularities in the administrative departments of Punjab, an audit report has shown. The report further showed that the departments ha failed to “settle” the anomalies highlighted in ‘pending’ audit paragraphs. An increase was also observed in the outstanding paras since 2009. A senior government official, seeking anonymity, further explained that each outstanding audit para pointed to an irregularity, which the concerned department had to account for in order to settle it.
“If the number of outstanding paras in March 2011 is more than those on December 2009 despite settlement, it clearly indicates an increase in the financial irregularities…it also does not imply that other departments have shown no anomaly, it only shows the irregularities have not just increased, but are present nonetheless and need to be accounted for,” the official added.
The departments which have shown an increase in the irregularities include Anticorruption (124 to 138 with zero percent settlement), Communication and Works (8,564 to 8,583 with 1 percent settlement), Food (3,938 to 4,221 with 1 percent settlement), Forestry (2,946 to 3,231 with 8 percent settlement), Housing (11,160 to 11,631 with 6 percent settlement), Industries (663 to 671 with 5 percent settlement), Irrigation and Power (6,664 to 6,801 with 6 percent settlement), Law (219 to 265 with 15 percent settlement), Local Government (1,838 to 2,299 with 15 percent settlement), Planning and Development (961 to 1,117 with 14 percent settlement), Punjab Public Service Commission (34 to 46 with 0 percent settlement), Services and General Administration (118 to 159 with 0 percent settlement), TEVTA (2,937 to 2,700 with 8 percent settlement) and Tourism (17 to 38 with 0 percent settlement).
In addition to these, the Auqaf Department, Chief Minister’s Inspection Team (CMIT), Home, IT, PST, Special Education, Zakat and Usher, Sports and Transport departments have also shown zero percent settlement. Health with 14,882 paras, School Education 14,540, Board of Revenue 6845, Higher Education 5,898 and Home Department with 5,653 unsettled paras also reveal high levels of anomaly. Another senior official seeking anonymity claimed the report a comment on the working of provincial bureaucracy under the nose of the chief executive of the province. “The audit report is one of the many such reports which will go down with so many other files, while no action will be taken,” the official added.