Kanya Vidya Dhan scheme draws flak from CAG

ALLAHABAD: The much-touted Kanya Vidya Dhan Scheme, launched by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in 2004 in Uttar Pradesh, has come in for sharp criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India which has termed it as "deficient".

The CAG, in its latest report, pointed out a number of irregularities in the scheme which was made a poll plank by the Samajwadi Party in the last assembly poll in the state.

The scheme had drawn flak from Mulayam's political foes who had dubbed it as populist and was scrapped last year when Mayawati government took over reins of the state.

"Inadequate scrutiny of applications and income certificates of guardians led to payment of incentives meant for poor girls to ineligible beneficiaries," the report said.

Terming the scheme as "deficient", the CAG said Rs 12.61 crore remained unutilised in 22 districts due to delay in finalisation of the list of beneficiaries.

This resulted in non-disbursement of incentives to 6305 beneficiaries, the report said adding no provision was made to monitor the scheme at any level or to assess its impact.

The CAG also expressed displeasure over "expenditure incurred on organising functions to distribute incentives".