Misappropriation of NRHM Funds

The scenario of corruption detected by CBI in respect of States under the NRHM is as under: As per the information made available by CBI, it has registered five Preliminary Enquiries (PEs) in UP pursuant to the orders of Hon’ble High Court of Allahabad, Lucknow Bench dated 15.11.2011 “to enquire into irregularities committed in the implementation of NRHM and utilisation of funds at various levels in the entire state of UP from 2005 onwards till date and to register regular cases (RCs) in respect of persons against whom prima facie cognizable offences is made out”. During the course of enquiry into the aforesaid 5 PEs, 14 Regular cases (RCs) have been registered by CBI so far and out of the same charge sheets have been filed in 4 cases. In addition, earlier CBI had also re-registered two RCs which were transferred from the State Government, pursuant to the orders of the High Court dated 27.7.2011. CAG in the report Union Government No.8 of 2009-10 on Performance Audit covering the period 2005-06 to 2007-08 has reported following : i) Irregularities in the civil works in respect of states of Odisha, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tripura & Uttar Pradesh. ii) Financial irregularities in expenditure on Information Education and Communication activities in respect of the states of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. iii) Irregularities in payment of incentive under the JSY in respect of states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh & Maharashtra. Further CAG in the Performance Audit report on National Rural Health Mission for the year ended 31st March 2011 pertaining to the State of Uttar Pradesh has made observations as follows: i) Financial and Accounts procedures suffered from systemic weaknesses. ii) The improper and deficient maintenance of books of accounts resulted in accounts not reflecting true and fair picture of NRHM in the state resulting in serious financial irregularities. Besides those mentioned above, the instances of discrepancies/ misappropriations etc of NRHM Funds have come to the knowledge of this Ministry from the States of Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Such cases have been sent to State Governments for inquiry and necessary action. The above information was given by the Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare Shri Sudip Bandyopadhyay in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.