Cong attacks govt over transfer of CAG officers involved in audit of Dwarka Expressway, Ayushman Bharat schemes

The Congress leader charged that 'the Modi government operates mafia style under a cloak of silence and intimidation.

The Congress on Wednesday found fault with the transfer of three officers of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), who were involved in the preparation of reports that exposed "irregularities" in Modi government's flagship programmes and said such government functionaries are being intimidated.

Party General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said quoting a media report that the "latest victims" of the government are the three officers, who exposed "massive scams" in government schemes in reports on Ayushman Bharat, Dwarka Express and Bharatmala tabled during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The Modi government "operates mafia style under a cloak of silence and intimidation" and if anyone exposes its modus operandi of corruption, they are threatened or removed", he alleged.

He demanded that these transfer orders should be "cancelled immediately", the officers return to the CAG and action must be taken on these mega scams relating to Dwarka Expressway, Bharatmala and Ayushman Bharat.

"The CAG report showed scams across infrastructure and social schemes. It documented 1400 per cent cost inflation and tendering irregularities in the Dwarka Expressway, in addition to a diversion of Rs. 3,600 crore from highways projects, faulty bidding practices, and 60 per cent cost inflation of Bharatmala scheme. Not only that, an audit of the Ayushman Bharat scheme showed lakhs of claims made to dead patients and at least 7.5 lakh beneficiaries linked to a single mobile number," he said.

"Now, the three CAG officers in charge of reporting on the Ayushman Bharat and Dwarka Expressway scams have been transferred to hide the blatant corruption in the Modi Government, despite the fact that the CAG is supposed to be an independent body," he said.