Aizawl: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) slammed the Mizoram government alleging massive loss of fund and crops due to poor implementation of the Bamboo Flowering and Famine Combat Scheme (BAFFACOS) during the Mautam famine that hit the state during 2007 and 2008.

The report of the CAG, laid on the table of the assembly by the Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla on Monday, said "the state government sustained a loss estimated at Rs 226 crore during 2005-08 due to the failure to extract bamboo before gregarious flowering by the state environment and forests department, creating conditions for rodent menace and subsequent destruction of crops."

"The projected average yield of bamboo in the state was 29.86 lakh metric tonnes as per Bamboo Resource Inventory of the State, 2002 and against the average annual yield of 29.86 lakh MT bamboo, the state government extracted only 2.36 lakh MT bamboo during 2005-06 to 2007-08 and earned revenue of Rs 6.11 crore," the report said.

The poor extraction of bamboo resulted in a loss to the tune of Rs 226 crore to the state exchequer, the report said, adding that the state Environment and Forests department neither took any effort to regenerate bamboo in the affected areas nor took any action to raise plantations of different bamboo species having different flowering cycles to avoid negative effects of flowering.

The report also said that while the state government incurred expenditure to the tune of Rs 29.65 lakh as bounty payment for purchase of 15.10 lakh rat tails during 2006-07, however, the rats continued to damage jhum paddy, vegetables, fruits and rice cultivation in low-lying areas to the tune of almost 82.88 per cent of the cropping areas in the state.

"Even after spending Rs 29.65 lakh, the state government could not control the rodent menace effectively," the report said.

The CAG report added "that different departments which utilised the BAFFACOS fund diverted and misused the allocations to the tune of Rs 23.08 crore by using it for some other purposes having no link with combating the rodent menace and mitigating the sufferings of the farmers in the state." (PTI)