'CAG to begin audit of govt expenses on COVID-19 pandemic this year itself'

Speaking to ETV Bharat, a top official source said that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will begin auditing the government's expenditures incurred in combating the coronavirus pandemic in 2020-21 itself. This audit will include expenses incurred on COVID-19 related work. The audit will include in its ambit state medical services corporations or health corporations or state government departments, writes senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah.

New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will begin auditing the government’s expenditures incurred in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21 itself, a top official source told ETV Bharat.

The national auditor’s move is significant in the backdrop of many reports from across the country alleging misappropriation and corruption involving huge amounts of money in test kits, medicine and equipment procurement, treatment, creation of new medical infrastructure and other logistics in combating the novel coronavirus.

“There is already a plan being prepared for the year 2020-21 which will look into the availability of drugs, medicines and equipment in government medical institutions across the states with a focus on centralized procurement, distribution and storage by leveraging technology. There is no need to take up a separate audit of COVID-19 expenditures,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

“This audit will include expenses incurred on COVID-19 related work. The audit will include in its ambit state medical services corporations or health corporations or state government departments,” the source added.

The CAG’s Southern Region has been entrusted with the conduct of the audit. Of course, the CAG initiative will depend on several factors like how long the ongoing pandemic lasts.

The humongous COVID-19 audit would have been much easier if all the spend data was available in electronic form as opposed to the manual entry of data still prevalent nowadays, although a move is definitely afoot towards making the CAG a paperless institution in its work and procedures.

Elaborating the move, outgoing CAG Rajiv Mehrishi told ETV Bharat on Thursday: “We have recommended to the President of India to bring in a new law that will make it mandatory to electronically record all central and states expenditure data. We have also suggested the new law which can be named ‘Data Accountability and Transparency Act’ (DATA)."

Once the decision to bring in the new legislation is taken, it will take just three years to ensure complete electronic storage of all government transactions including central and state governments, their departments, and all the PSUs.

There is a lot of scope for diversion from norms in the protocol followed in treating COVID-19 patients.

While government hospitals have to treat every COVID-19 patient free of cost, it is not easy to calculate the per-patient cost as the treatment varies depending on the patient's vulnerabilities and profile besides the need for life-saving equipment including ventilators.

Moreover, there are state-borne transportation and housing expenditures besides the huge procurement drive for PPE suits to medicines to other equipment.

According to the ICMR, up to Thursday (August 6, 2020), a cumulative total of 2,27,88,393 samples had been tested for COVID-19 all across India.

With COVID-19 wreaking havoc with India’s economy, the government has already announced a huge policy reform and fiscal incentive package of Rs 20,97,053 crore in order to surmount the distress caused by the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.