New Delhi: Days after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) released its report on ‘Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN’ last week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday hit out at the central government over the findings. ThePrint has seen the audit report which is in public domain.
Posting on social media platform X, Kharge alleged, “Modi government’s promise to travel by air wearing slippers has turned into air like all their promises! We are not saying this, CAG report is saying this!”
मोदी सरकार का हवाई चप्पल पहन, हवाई सफ़र करने का वादा उनके हर वादे की तरह हवा-हवाई हो गया !
ये हम नहीं कह रहें हैं, CAG Report कह रही है !
🛬योजना 93% routes पर नहीं चली।
🛬Airlines का independent audit भी नहीं हुआ।
🛬बहुप्रचारित Helicopter services भी ठप्प रही।
नहीं मिली… pic.twitter.com/I3bWh6CRke
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) August 19, 2023
Launched in 2016 by the ministry of civil aviation, UDAN, or ‘Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik [country’s common people will fly]’, was meant to enhance regional air connectivity through fiscal support and infrastructure development.
Kharge was referring to PM Narendra Modi’s reported remark from 2017, while flagging off one of the first flights under the scheme, when was quoted as saying, “I want to see a common man wearing a chappal [slipper] on the ground to ride a plane….To fly under UDAN, one will be required to spend Rs 6 per km. This will be cheaper than the taxis.”
Citing the CAG findings, the Congress president said, “India will not forgive such an incompetent government now!”
Also read: Oppn cries ‘scam’, govt says ‘erroneous’ — what’s in CAG report on Rs 250-cr/km Dwarka Expressway
What CAG said
One of the key findings of CAG report released 10 August that Kharge mentioned is that as of March 2023, of 774 awarded routes, only 54 routes or seven percent of routes, could sustain the operations beyond the concession period of three years.
Of the rest, 52 percent awarded routes could not even commence operations. Of the total, only 30 percent of routes were able to complete the concession period.
In another finding, the CAG remarked that the oversight mechanism of the scheme needs substantial improvement. “The independent audit of airlines was not conducted after 2017-18 to ensure the compliance to the provisions of the scheme as well as Selected Airlines Operator Agreement,” it read.
The third finding that the Congress president has referred to in his post was the CAG pointing out that neither the ministry nor the Airports Authority of India carried out an exercise to “identify eligible heliports on the basis of its potential”.
“The majority of helicopters identified for operations from the proposal submitted by helicopter operators, either remained un-utilised/under-utilised or RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) operations from such heliports were discontinued subsequently,” the CAG report said.
The Congress president’s attack comes after the party targeted the BJP government over seven alleged “scams”. Citing findings published in the subsequent reports, the Congress this Wednesday accused the Modi government of “scams” running into hundreds of crores.
The allegations revolved around the Dwarka Expressway and Ayodhya development project, besides the Bharatmala Pariyojana and Ayushman Bharat schemes, among others.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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