New Delhi: The government's relief measures after the devastating tsunami of December 2004 were inefficiently monitored as well as utilised improperly, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said in a report on Friday.
"The utilisation of funds in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was poor and 56 per cent, 27 per cent and 61 per cent respectively of the funds released remained unutilised," the report said.
It also found that irregular payments worth millions of rupees were made in the name of relief in all the affected states even as the process to verify the claims was not entirely foolproof.
"There were cases of improper verification, non-achievement of targets, provision of relief to unaffected and ineligible people," the report said while making several recommendations to the government on how to handle such situations in the future.
It points out that though the states had projected a requirement of Rs.117.96 billion for relief work, the government had sanctioned Rs.36.44 billion as against Rs.56.90 billion recommended by a central committee.
The report also states that of the Rs.36.44 billion, Rs.16 billion was transferred to the long-term reconstruction programme. It also said that Rs.448 million meant for tsunami relief was diverted to committed liabilities and administrative expenditure.
The tsunami, which hit South India on December 26, affected 2.79 million people in 1,089 villages and included loss of lives, damage to dwelling units and boats, loss of livestock, damage to cropped area, destruction of physical and social beaches and forest cover.
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