Thursday, December 16, 2021

CAG report reveals Bihar spent less than 6 % of workers welfare fund

CAG audit report on Bihar (State Finance) for the year ended 31 March 2020 states, "During 2017-18 to 2019-20, an amount of Rs 925.77 crore was collected as Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare (BOCW) Cess, out of which Rs 289.75 crores pertained to 2019-20".

However, the report doesn't tell us how much did Bihar BOCW Board spend on workers' welfare schemes during these years or during the fiscal year 2019-20. Citizens shall compare this language of reporting with the CAG audit report on Bihar (State Finance) for fiscal year 2017-18.

CAG Audit Report on Bihar (State Finance) for 2017-18 stated, "As per information provided by Bihar BOCW Board, their accounts have been finalised only upto 2015-16. There was opening balance of Rs 895.15 crore in April 2017 and Rs 266.46 crore was received as cess in 2017-18".

CAG auditors didn't stop there. The report states, "Out of this, Rs 62.55 crore (5.38 percent) has been spent on workers’ welfare schemes (Rs 61.26 crore) and administrative expenses (Rs 1.29 crore), benefiting 40,740 workers (10.94 percent of registered workers) during 2017-18".

Commenting on how did the Bihar BOCWW Board perform, it states, “Bihar has utilised very less amount (5.38 percent) of the available funds compared to neighbouring states viz. Chhattisgarh (42 percent), MP (14 percent), Uttar Pradesh (seven percent)  and Jharkhand (21 percent)”.


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