Bhubaneswar: The State unit of BJP Monday mounted a fresh attack on the previous BJD government after the CAG flagged major lapses in DMF spending, including Rs 983 crore expenditure in villages not directly affected by mining and the exclusion of 584 affected villages.
BJP spokesperson and media cell head Dr Tapan Chand said the findings exposed serious deficiencies in the management and utilisation of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds meant for people and areas affected by mining.
According to the CAG findings cited by the BJP, Rs 983 crore was spent in villages not directly affected by mining, while 584 mining-affected villages received neither DMF-funded projects nor funds.
Chand alleged that the spending pattern deprived tribal communities, Scheduled Castes and other mining-affected people of benefits intended for them.
The audit also flagged procedural and financial irregularities in DMF project implementation. In Keonjhar, 3,269 projects involving Rs 9,733.37 crore were approved between 2015 and 2024.
Of these, 757 projects, or 23 per cent, were implemented without approval from the Executive Committee or Board of Trustees, Chand said.
Failure to take appropriate investment decisions resulted in an interest loss of Rs 84.51 crore to the Keonjhar DMF, while similar losses were reported in Dhenkanal (Rs 2.44 crore), Mayurbhanj (Rs 6.85 crore) and Nabarangpur (Rs 20 lakh), he said.
The CAG findings also flagged financial and implementation lapses in the tourism sector during the previous government’s tenure.
According to Chand, Rs 103.35 crore remained unutilised and was returned, while Rs 898.48 crore remained parked in agencies’ bank accounts. Another Rs 59.25 crore was either not utilised or not refunded.
The audit also pointed to Rs 207.68 crore in losses under the Eco Retreat programme, Rs 6.49 crore in wasteful expenditure on the Puri Prasad project and Rs 8.16 crore spent on the incomplete Bindusagar floating musical fountain project. In the boat-rental sector, Rs 1.42 crore remained unrecovered from a private agency, he said.
Chand further alleged that the previous government had weakened the DMF mechanism instead of using it as an instrument for development in mining-affected areas.
“BJD leaders are sitting on a mountain of corruption, and the CAG reports have set fire to that pile,” he said.
He also attacked the previous government over its handling of Odisha’s mineral resources, rejecting the BJD’s criticism of amendments to the MMDR Act.
He claimed that the state’s mineral revenue had risen from below Rs 5,000 crore before 2015 to Rs 51,000 crore in 2025-26.
Chand further alleged that Odisha had potentially lost around Rs 1.70 lakh crore between 2005 and 2015 because an auction system for mineral resources was not introduced during that period.
It may be noted here that CAG, the country’s premier audit agency, in its reports tabled in the Odisha Assembly on September 29, highlighted financial, administrative and implementation lapses across several sectors during the previous government’s tenure.
