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Social audit can bring transparency to urban bodies, says CAG

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Shashi Kant Sharma claimed that social audit can deal with accountability and transparency mechanism in local bodies which have not been commensurate with the increasing responsibilities and funds.

While inaugurating one day conference on Social Audit on Tuesday, he said, expenditure of Union Government and State Governments that directly impacts socio-economic development was estimated to be Rs 17 lakh crore in the financial year 2013-2014. This implies that an average of Rs 2656 crores of expenditures is incurred as development expenditure per district.”

“A large portion of this development expenditure is being executed through the local bodies such as Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) and Urban Local Bodies. These local bodies are important service delivery tools and are performing most of the flagship programmes of the central and state governments. These PRI’s are now handling employment generation, infrastructure, agriculture, drinking water, sanitation, education, and several other welfare schemes,” he added.

Sharma urged all his officers in the states to adopt a positive outlook towards Social Audit and said that he would see the civil society organizations as partners in enhancing transparency and accountability of implementing agencies and in that sense our goals are ultimately the same.

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