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Raheel Dhattiwala / TNN / Jan 3, 2007, 01:16 IST

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An initial audit conducted by the CAG of India has sniffed out 'irregularities' totalling Rs 3.59 crore in SEWA's Jeevika project.

AHMEDABAD: An initial audit conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has sniffed out 'irregularities'totalling Rs 3.59 crore in SEWA's Jeevika project.
What's more, the state government, which raked up the controversy over alleged irregularities by the self-employed Women's Association (SEWA), is sitting on CAG's observations which were submitted in November 2006.
The CAG's observations should have been handed over to the audited party (in this case, SEWA) for reactions before the final report is made.
However, the observations, a copy of which the TOI acquired under the Right to Information Act, have been kept away from the reputed NGO currently engaged in a spat with the government.

"SEWA has not received any audit report either from the state government or from the CAG. We are requesting them to give preliminary report/observations/comments to us,"said SEWA's Namrata Bali in a letter to TOI.
SEWA's spat with the Gujarat government took shape after the latter found "financial irregularities"of Rs 33.23 lakh in the NGO's Jeevika project in a special audit conducted between April and August 2005.

This had provoked SEWA to withdraw from the project on October 11, 2005 and later, the miffed NGO also severed ties with the state government in 20 other projects.
Vipul Mittra, commissioner of rural development, got the special audit done and then referred the matter to the CAG.
But Mittra, who is now serving his notice period after having sought voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service, is sitting over the matter because he does not want any fresh controversy at the end of his service. Mittra refused to comment despite numerous attempts by the TOI to contact him.
The Rs 112.80-crore Jeevika project was launched in November 2002 to rehabilitate 400 villages of Kutch, Surendranagar and Patan districts affected in the 2001 earthquake. Partners in the seven-year project were the Government of India,Government of Gujarat and the International Fund for Agriculture Development.

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