70,000 Crore Scam in Bihar: In the politics of Bihar, before the elections, such a bomb has exploded whose echo is heard from Patna to Delhi. While the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) of the voter list has already been created, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has set fire to the political corridors. The report says the Bihar government has spent Rs 70,877 crore but could not provide evidence. No utility certificate nor transparency nor accountability. In such a situation, the public is now asking, where did the money go? And who responsible?
Not accounted for hera-ferry?
According to the CAG report, the government has to give the usefulness certificate of its expenses every year. That is, it has to be shown that the money that the government spent on the schemes was really spent on the schemes. But the Bihar government has not been submitting these certificates for years. There is no reliable account of expenditure of Rs 70877 crore. The most shocking thing is that 14452 crore of these are even before 2016-17. That is, the matter is not limited to the current government only, Tejashwi Yadav’s Deputy Chief Minister is connected till his tenure. This was the same time when there was a Grand Alliance government in Bihar and the key of power was in the shared vault of Nitish-Tejasvi.
Panchayati Raj becomes ‘Craft of Money’
The reports of the report are intimidating. The Panchayati Raj Department is sitting by pressing the most money. After that the number comes (12623.67 crore) of the Education Department (12623.67 crore) again urban development (11065.50 crore) Rural Development (7800.48 crore) and Agriculture Department (2107.63 crore). These five departments spent money for years but did not provide any evidence as to where the money went. Now the question arises, who ran these departments? In response, the political horoscope of Bihar comes out.
Who had a treasure and who blows?
When the grand alliance was formed in 2015, Panchayati Raj was with Kapil Dev Kamat of JDU. Education was also with Ashok Chaudhary Urban Development Maheshwar Hazari Rural Development Shravan Kumar of JDU and Ram Vichar Rai of Agriculture RJD. That is, both parties were equal partners in power. At the same time, Tejashwi Yadav had three ministries, road construction, building construction and backward class development. His elder brother Tej Pratap was also a minister who had health environment and backward classes Ministry. Now that the report is talking about the disturbances of the old governments, then the people sitting in the opposition are also staring at the eyes of the public.
What is happening now?
Currently, these five departments are with the ministers of BJP and JDU. Panchayati Raj Hai Kedar Gupta (BJP) has education Sunil Kumar (JDU) Urban Vikas Jibesh Kumar (BJP) Rural Development again with Shravan Kumar (JDU) and Krishi Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP). Meaning the present government is also carrying forward this’ tradition of escaping according to this. The CAG clearly says that if the utility certificates are not submitted, then there is no guarantee that the money was spent in the right place. This situation is directly a gesture of the scam.
Nitish government’s financial report card
The Bihar government had kept a total budget of 3.26 lakh crore in 2023-24 but could spend only 2.60 lakh crores. And out of the remaining money, 65512 crore, the government was able to return only 23875 crores. This means that the money got entangled in the schemes or was swept away elsewhere. The government is claiming that they run several welfare schemes but the CAG report says that there is no financial track record of the schemes. So the question arises that this ‘public money’ has turned into funding for elections?
Electoral battle and scams echo
The Bihar assembly election of 2025 is very close. The opposition is already accusing the voter list of disturbances and now the CAG report has put the current power in the dock. Tejashwi Yadav is also finger because the roots of the scam goes till their tenure. Nitish Kumar has to answer why the governments become silent every time the matter of ‘account’ comes. The people of Bihar now have only one question, in democracy, someone will ask where did 70000 crore rupees go? Or will the truth be buried once again in the election slogans ethnic mathematics and alliance tricks?
