Guwahati: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged widespread financial irregularities across several Assam government departments, uncovering procurement lapses, undue payments to contractors, excess land compensation, wasteful public expenditure and serious deficiencies in beneficiary verification that together involve more than Rs 56 crore.
The findings are contained in the CAG’s Report No. 3 of 2026 on Social, Economic and General Sectors for the year ended March 2024.
The audit examined compliance with financial rules, procurement procedures and execution of public projects across multiple departments, including Water Resources, Revenue and Disaster Management, Public Works, Administrative Reforms and Training, Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, and Tribal Affairs (Plain).
The report paints a picture of recurring weaknesses in project planning, tender evaluation, contract management, procurement oversight and financial controls, highlighting avoidable expenditure, undue financial benefits to contractors and repeated violations of prescribed financial and procurement rules.
One of the most significant observations relates to the Directorate of Tribal Affairs (Plain), where the CAG found that the department incurred avoidable expenditure exceeding Rs 28 crore while implementing welfare schemes involving the distribution of pressure cookers, LPG gas stoves and battery-operated sprayers.
According to the audit, the Directorate procured these items at prices above their notified Maximum Retail Price (MRP), resulting in avoidable excess expenditure of Rs 11.49 crore. The CAG noted that the department failed to exercise due financial prudence despite the MRP serving as the upper limit for retail sales.
The auditors also identified serious deficiencies in the distribution process. Payments amounting to Rs 9.92 crore were released to suppliers without verifying whether the intended beneficiaries had actually received the goods.
The report observed that the absence of delivery verification undermined assurance that public funds had achieved their intended purpose.
In another major lapse, the department failed to obtain acknowledgements from beneficiaries for welfare items valued at Rs 6.58 crore. Without signed receipts or other documentary evidence, the audit stated that the actual distribution of these items could not be independently verified.
“The Directorate of Tribal Affairs (Plain) incurred avoidable excess expenditure of Rs 11.49 crore due to procurement of pressure cookers, LPG gas stoves and battery-operated sprayers above the Maximum Retail Price,” the CAG said. It added that payments were released without ensuring delivery to beneficiaries and that acknowledgements for goods worth Rs 6.58 crore were not obtained.
The audit concluded that by purchasing goods above the MRP, releasing payments without confirming delivery and failing to maintain basic documentation, the department exposed public funds to avoidable financial risk and weakened accountability in the implementation of tribal welfare schemes.
The Water Resources Department also came under scrutiny after the audit found that the Departmental Tender Committee awarded contracts using a manually prepared comparative statement instead of the system-generated comparative statement prescribed under the e-procurement process.
According to the CAG, this deviation resulted in undue payments of Rs 30.70 lakh to contractors. The contracts were awarded at rates higher than those reflected in the system-generated bids, leading to avoidable financial loss to the state exchequer.
In the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, the audit found that the District Commissioner of Kamrup Metropolitan allowed an unjustified period of 365 days instead of the admissible 64 days while calculating additional compensation for acquired land. The decision resulted in an excess payment of Rs 94.26 lakh to a landowner.
The Public Works Department (PWD) accounted for some of the largest individual irregularities identified in the report.
In one instance, irregular award of consultancy services for the proposed Swahid Smarak Khetra at Pachim Boragaon imposed an additional financial burden of Rs 71.60 lakh on the state.
In another project, auditors found that tenders were finalised using altered item rates instead of the rates actually quoted by the successful bidder. This conferred an undue financial benefit of Rs 1.25 crore to the contractor.
The report also highlighted a separate case in which the department failed to revise the contract value despite a substantial reduction in the revised project estimate. Consequently, work continued at the original contract value of Rs 6.43 crore, which was 91 per cent higher than the revised estimate, providing an undue benefit of Rs 3.06 crore to the contractor.
The Administrative Reforms and Training Department was criticised for spending Rs 2.14 crore on establishing a training institute at the Assam Administrative Staff College without obtaining mandatory forest clearance or carrying out an adequate feasibility assessment.
The project was subsequently closed, rendering the entire expenditure wasteful, the audit observed.
In the Women and Child Development Department, auditors found that rice was procured from the open market despite allocations being available from the Food Corporation of India (FCI). This resulted in excess expenditure of Rs 7.24 crore under the Scheme for Adolescent Girls.
The Health and Family Welfare Department was also pulled up after ancillary works worth Rs 1.62 crore became unusable following their demolition for the construction of a new medical college and hospital, rendering the expenditure unfruitful.
Across departments, the CAG identified a common pattern of weak financial governance, inadequate internal controls and poor adherence to procurement norms.
The audit repeatedly points to failures in tender evaluation, project planning, contract administration and beneficiary verification, allowing avoidable expenditure, excess payments, undue financial benefits to contractors and lapses in accountability.
The findings are likely to trigger closer scrutiny of procurement practices and project implementation across Assam government departments, particularly in welfare schemes and infrastructure projects where the audit found systemic shortcomings in financial oversight and compliance with established rules.
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