94% of UP's protected monuments operated without legal title, CAG finds

This audit examined the compliance of financial transactions and specific schemes under 29 Union Ministries and five Constitutional bodies for the year ended March 2024. It also included a subject-specific audit on the conservation of monuments by the Archaeological Survey of India in Uttar Pradesh.

Union Government Ministries (including Culture, External Affairs, Home Affairs, Social Justice, and Tribal Affairs) and Central Public Sector Enterprises.

• ASI in Uttar Pradesh operated 94% of Centrally Protected Monuments without legal title, with 31 monuments untraceable and 96 cases of encroachment reported.
• Ministry of External Affairs incurred excess expenditure of ₹ 27.43 crore on license fees for unutilised space at Akbar Bhawan.
• Central Armed Police Forces failed to deduct Professional Tax amounting to ₹ 26.40 crore from employee salaries in six states.
• Central Industrial Security Force blocked funds of ₹ 6.53 crore for over nine years due to non-possession of land.
• Sashastra Seema Bal made excess payments of ₹ 3.18 crore in Special Compensatory Allowance.
• Regional Passport Offices in Mumbai, Pune, and Goa made irregular payments of ₹ 1.47 crore in electricity duty and tax.
• Fishery Survey of India had a 37% shortfall in planned voyages between 2018-19 and 2022-23.
• Scholarship schemes for Scheduled Castes and Tribes showed instances of payments to non-enrolled students and multiple payments to beneficiaries.

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