CAG submits report of Delhi govt's adspend, dengue-readiness

The CAG has submitted audit reports on the three-fold surge in AAP government's advertisement spend and the local government's preparedness to deal with dengue, to the Delhi government.
In all, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has submitted four audit reports for placing before the legislative assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The other two reports pertain to general finances.
The reports are for tabling in the current five-day Budget session of the Delhi assembly which ends on March 10.
"Four Audit Reports of the CAG relating to the Government of NCT of Delhi for the year ended March 2016 have been submitted to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi under Section 48 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, for being placed before the Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi," a statement by CAG said.

While it did not give details of the reports, sources said that one of the key reports is about the AAP government's expenditure on advertisement and publicity surging from the previous administraiton's Rs 25.25 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 81.23 crore in 2015-16.

After taking into account the committed liabilities of the government, the actual cost of advertisement in the year may have exceeded Rs 114.21 crore.
The second report, sources said, is about the audit of the preventive steps taken by the Delhi government and civic authorities -- the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) -- to deal with mosquito-borne diseases.

It is unclear if the AAP government will actually go ahead and table the reports during the current session itself. The reports have not been listed for tabling so far, they said.
"While Audit Report No 3 of the year 2016 on Social Sector (Non-Public Sector Undertakings) was submitted to the Lieutenant Governor on August 22, 2016, the Audit Report No 1 of the year 2017 on Social, General and Economic Sectors (Non-Public Sector Undertakings) and Audit Report No 5 of the year 2016 on Revenue and Social and Economic Sectors (Public Sector Undertakings) were submitted on February 23, 2017. The Audit Report No 4 of the year 2016 on State Finances was submitted to the Lieutenant Governor on March 6, 2017," the CAG statement said without elaborating.

CAG said the audit reports would be put in public domain as soon as they are tabled in the Legislative Assembly.