- CAG will conduct integrated audits across ministries to check policy-ground reality gaps
- First integrated audit reports on MSME and logistics expected in Parliament's winter session
- Logistics audit to cover railways, roads, shipping to identify cost and delay issues
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) will conduct integrated audits across ministries, while carrying out new audits to check the gap between government policy and ground reality. The first such integrated audit reports are expected to be tabled in Parliament's winter session, official sources told NDTV Profit.
The audit institution will examine multiple departments together for the first time ever, with MSME and logistics to be key focus areas.
The integrated logistics audit aims to identify gaps driving logistics costs and delays, with sectors such as railways, roads and shipping to come under it.
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Meanwhile, MSME audit seeks to assess ease of doing business at state level, with focus on whether reforms are helping small businesses.
Additionally, intergated audits will cover seven central schemes, while urban mobility, ease of living across 101 cities will be audited. The findings of the audit will highlight gaps in scheme implementation, sources say, with follow-up action by Centre and states to be important.
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This comes days after CAG launched the country's biggest-ever audit of the power sector, with a focus on assessing the financial health and operational efficiency of electricity distribution companies (discoms), official sources earlier told NDTV Profit.
The power audit will be conducted in phases, starting with discoms. The CAG will examine their performance for a five-year period, which will include financial losses, debt, power procurement, billing gaps and distribution efficiency.
The audit will cover 39 discoms and comes ahead of a proposed central investment of Rs 3 lakh crore in the power sector. The CAG will examine several aspects of discom operations, including billing gaps, electricity procurement practices and the efficiency of power distribution.
The review will also include assessment of renewable energy companies as well as generation and transmission companies. In a first, the audit will also include consumer grievances. As part of the exercise, a consumer satisfaction survey covering 10,000 respondents will be conducted to understand the experiences and concerns of electricity consumers.The audit will be carried out in phases, with findings expected next year. The reports will subsequently be tabled in the respective state legislatures.
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