The Congress on Wednesday criticized the BJP-led Central government for transferring three officials of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), saying it is acting ‘mafia style’ under the cover of silence and intimidation. If anyone exposes its corrupt practices, they are threatened or removed.
The Congress also demanded that the transfer order be immediately canceled and the officers return to the CAG.
The party also demanded that action should be taken in the mega scams related to Dwarka Expressway, Bharatmala and Ayushman Bharat, which were exposed during the monsoon session of Parliament.
In a post on Twitter, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Modi government works mafia style under the cover of silence and intimidation. If anyone exposes its corrupt practices, they are threatened or removed. The latest victims are three officials of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), who exposed large-scale scams in government schemes in a report tabled during the monsoon session of Parliament”.
He said the CAG report has shown scams in infrastructure and social schemes.
“It documented 1,400 per cent cost inflation and tender irregularities in the Dwarka Expressway, besides deviation of Rs 3,600 crore from highway projects, faulty bidding practices and 60 per cent cost inflation of the Bharatmala scheme,” the Congress leader said.
Not only this, the audit of Ayushman Bharat scheme found lakhs of claims made for dead patients and at least 7.5 lakh beneficiaries linked to the same mobile number.
Rajya Sabha MP Ramesh said, “Now, three CAG officers in charge of reporting on the Ayushman Bharat and Dwarka Expressway scams have been transferred to hide the blatant corruption in the Modi government, despite the fact that the CAG is supposed to be an independent body. We demand that these transfer orders should be immediately cancelled, the officers should return to CAG and action should be taken against these huge scams related to Dwarka Expressway, Bharatmala and Ayushman Bharat.”
He also attached a news report highlighting the transfer of CAG officials – including three who were in charge of two of the 12 major audit reports tabled in Parliament during the monsoon session.
