Oppn accuses Modi govt of ‘intimidation’, ‘corruption’ as CAG transfers 3 officers

With the transfer of three Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) officers, who were in charge of two audit reports that flagged the alleged irregularities in the Centre’s Bharatmala and Ayushman Bharat schemes, the BJP-ruled government at the Centre has come under the attack of Opposition parties, including Trinamool Congress. The Opposition parties have accused the government of intimidating the CAG officers.

The officers who have been transferred include Atoorva Sinha, Dattaprasad Suryakant Shirsat and Ashok Sinha. All the three officers were transferred on September 12 – just a month after the CAG’s audit reports on Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and performance audit on “Implementation of Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana” were tabled in the Parliament on August 8 and August 10 respectively.

Notably, two of the transferred Indian Audit and Accounts Service officers —Atoorva Sinha and Dattaprasad Suryakant Shirsa — were the in-charge of the audit reports that flagged the alleged irregularities in the Dwarka Expressway project and

Ayushman Bharat scheme, while the third officer — Ashok Sinha — had initiated the audit of Ayushman Bharat.

As per the order 1901 of the CAG office, Atoorva Sinha, who was the principal director of audit (infrastructure) (PDA- Infrastructure), New Delhi has been transferred and posted as Accountant General (A&E), Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram in place of Sunil Raj Somarajan. Sinha was assigned the charge of PDA-Infrastructure in March 2023. The post of PDA-Infrastructure, as per the order, would now be looked after by Rajiv Kumar Pandey.

Similarly, Dattaprasad Suryakant Shirsat — Director (AMG II), Director General of Audit, Central Expenditure, New Delhi “has been transferred and posted as Director (legal) in this office against an existing vacancy.

The order further stated that Ashok Sinha, director general (North Central Region) has been transferred as director general Rajbhasha. Sinha will also hold the additional charge of the post of director general (exam) in the CAG office “till further orders.”

However, demanding the cancellation of transfer orders of these three officers, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh suggested the Centre take action on mega scams relating to Dwarka Expressway, Bharatmala project and Ayushman Bharat.

“The Modi government operates mafia style under a cloak of silence and intimidation,” Ramesh said in a social media post.

“If anyone exposes its modus operandi of corruption, they are threatened or removed. The latest victims are three officers of the CAG, who exposed massive scams in government schemes in a report tabled during the Monsoon Session of Parliament,” Ramesh said.

Reacting to the transfer of CAG officers, TMC MP Jawhar Sircar said that the transfer orders come as the CAG is now being headed by “Modi’s closest secretary”.

“CAG officers who revealed Modi-govt scams in Ayushman Bharat, Bharatmala, etc, transferred! And why not? Modi’s closest secretary who saw him through Gujarat riot allegations is now his dear CAG! Only Opposition states will be targeted,” he said in a post on X.

The CAG reports had flagged irregularities in the Bharatmala project, the construction of Dwarka Expressway, violation of toll rules by the National Highways Authority of India, the Ayushman Bharat Scheme and alleged undue advantage to the contractors in the Ayodhya Development Project.

As per the report, the budget for the Dwarka expressway project on the Delhi-Gurugram border had been increased from Rs 18.2 crore per km to Rs 251 crore per km.

The CAG report has also flagged that nearly 7.5 lakh beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana were registered under a single mobile number – 9999999999.