As many as 28 pending reports of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) covering the period from 2020‑21 to 2024‑25 — the last tenure of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress — were tabled in the West Bengal Assembly by the BJP government on Saturday, July 25, showing grave irregularities in implementation of various government schemes.
Finance minister Swapan Dasgupta said a special session of the Assembly would be convened to discuss the findings of the CAG. The watchdog’s reports had not been placed earlier by the previous administration, he said, describing it as “a constitutional lapse”.
The CAG compliance audit on post‑Cyclone Amphan relief flagged irregularities in the state’s assessment of damages and distribution of assistance, according to news reports. The TMC government exaggerated damage assessments and made payments several times to the same individuals. Worse, beneficiary lists prepared for an earlier cyclone was used to disburse assistance for damage by Cyclone Amphan.
In its compliance audit report on the post-Amphan relief and restoration work, CAG said the state’s assessment of damages submitted for seeking central assistance was “exaggerated and unrealistically high” and was not supported by adequate evidence of actual losses.
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The damage estimates submitted for central aid were exaggerated and not supported by adequate evidence, said CAG. It also noted that district‑wise loss reports were not provided for verification, it added.
According to the CAG report, housing grants were disbursed multiple times to 9,226 beneficiaries, leading to excess payments of ₹18.07 crore. The CAG report highlighted that till June 2020, families with fully or partially damaged houses received ₹20,000 each. After June, the grant for partially damaged houses was raised to ₹25,000, while the fully damaged category remained unchanged. No documentation was provided to explain the change, the CAG report said.
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The Mamata Banerjee government had sought ₹35,018 crore in central assistance, while National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) recommended ₹2,707.7 crore.
Dasgupta said it was the new government’s responsibility to place the shortcomings of the previous government before the people and that a detailed discussion on the reports would be held in the special session. The CAG’s findings would help explain factors contributing to the state’s debt burden, which has crossed ₹8 lakh crore, he added.
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The reports also recorded that West Bengal posted a Gross State Domestic Product growth of 9.91% in 2024‑25, but the revenue deficit persisted.
