CAG report refutes Centre's LPG claims, says total savings are Rs 2,000 crore, not Rs 22,000 crore
The audit found problems with the government's direct bank transfer scheme, such as subsidy for domestic consumption being diverted for commercial use.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in a report submitted at the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, has found that savings from people voluntarily giving up their LPG subsidies amounts to less than Rs 2,000 crore, not Rs 22,000 as the Centre has claimed. According to the audit, the remaining savings come from the steep drop in the price of the cooking gas India imports, The Hindu reported.
The CAG report refutes the Centre's claims that in the 2014-'15 and 2015-'16 fiscals, it would save nearly Rs 22,000 crore from its LPG policy, which includes the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme called Pahal. The audit found issues with the transfer scheme, such as subsidy for domestic consumption being used for commercial use and vice versa.
The government had launched the "GiveItUp" campaign and DBTL scheme in 2014. It transfers the cooking gas subsidy directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries under DBTL. "Because of this, middlemen and black marketers have been hit. We corrected the system, and Rs 15,000 crore, which was stolen every year in the name of gas subsidy, has been saved, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said last year.