₹27.38 cr paid to SoO groups outside guidelines: CAG
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, March 01 2024:
The government had paid Rs 27.38 crore to Kuki militant groups under Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement outside the guidelines.
The amount was paid in the form of cheques on three occasions between April 2019 and July 2020, as per the Audit Report 2022 of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, which was tabled on the second day of the ongoing session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly on Friday.
The CAG report said that as per guidelines of the tripartite agreement, the stipend entitled to cadres of KNO and UPF under SoO agreement is Rs 6000 per cadre per month based on unique biometric identification.
However, the amount of Rs 27.38 crore was paid outside the guidelines, it said.
As per the tripartite agreement with KNO and UPF first signed on August 22, 2008, all the cadres should be linked with their unique biometric identification number (Aadhaar card) for payment of the stipend which was fully enforced from April 1, 2018 .
A sum of Rs 6.05 crore and another sum of Rs 5.71 crore were paid in two separate cheques on April 22, 2019, while the third cheque for Rs 15.60 crore was issued on July 21, 2020.The amount of Rs 6.05 crore was for 1122 cadres for the term October 2017 to September 2018 while the cheque for Rs 5.71 crore was for 1059 cadres for the same term.
The third cheque of Rs 15.60 crore issued on July 21, 2020 was for 2167 cadres for the term October 2018 to September 2029.The payments were made to the representatives of the cadres and there was no record for unique biometric identification number linking of the cadres.
Thus, the payment of Rs 27.38 crore to the cadres of SoO groups was irregular payment in terms of the guidelines, the CAG report said.
The home department in February 2023 stated that necessity of linking of unique biometric identification numbers was discussed in a meeting of the Joint Monitoring Group held on December 30, 2016 but details of unique biometric identification numbers were not submitted by the groups.
The reply is not acceptable as linking of unique biometric identification number of the militant cadres is mandatory with effect from April 1, 2018 as per guidelines, the CAG report added.