Shimla: Himachal Pradesh spent ₹15.75 crore on 180 Panchavati Parks using MGNREGA funds, but the CAG’s 2023-24 report found ₹4.41 crore of the expenditure inadmissible because the state did not obtain the required approval from the Union Ministry of Rural Development. The findings raise serious questions about how the state government allowed public funds to finance works outside the approved MGNREGA framework.
Government Used MGNREGA Funds Without Required Approval
The Panchavati Yojana aims to provide rural senior citizens with facilities such as walking tracks, seating areas, open gyms and green spaces.
MGNREGA allows spending only on works covered under its approved framework unless authorities obtain the required approval or exemption. The CAG found that Panchavati Parks did not fall within the approved list of MGNREGA works.
Despite this, the state spent ₹15.75 crore on 180 parks. The audit found that the government needed prior approval from the Union Ministry of Rural Development but did not obtain it.
The CAG consequently classified ₹4.41 crore as inadmissible expenditure under the MGNREGA funding framework.
The issue is not whether rural communities need public parks. The question is why the government used funds meant for specified rural employment and asset-creation works without completing the mandatory approval process.
Who Cleared the Spending and Why Did No One Stop It?
The CAG findings expose gaps in financial oversight at the state and district levels. Authorities should have verified whether the proposed projects complied with MGNREGA rules before releasing funds.
If Panchavati Parks fell outside the approved list, the government should have secured the required central approval before spending MGNREGA funds. The expenditure of ₹15.75 crore across 180 locations raises questions about how these projects passed administrative and financial checks.
The government must explain why it did not obtain the required approval, which authorities sanctioned the expenditure and what action it has taken to address the monitoring failure.
The ₹4.41 crore flagged by the CAG is not simply an accounting issue. It concerns the use of public money outside the prescribed funding framework.
A welfare project can serve a legitimate public purpose, but that does not allow the government to bypass financial rules. The CAG findings therefore put the state government’s fund management, oversight and accountability mechanisms under direct scrutiny.
