GANDHINAGAR: The

reports for 2009-10 and 2010-11, placed before the Gujarat assembly on the last day of the budget session on Friday, tore into the

on the issue of

by pointing out irregularities causing a cumulative loss of nearly Rs 17,000 crore.

The villain of the piece turned out to be state-owned public sector undertaking (PSU),

(GSPC), which showed irregularities leading to losses of up to Rs 12,400 crore.

The reports slam the handling of finances by the

, saying there were regular unspent “excesses” left in all departments over the last four years, and that there were “last minute fund releases and issuance of re-appropriation/surrender orders at the fag end, particularly on the last day of the year”.

State-owned power distribution companies (DISCOMs) also bled the exchequer, according to the CAG reports. CAG also came down heavily on the government for its failure to keep its water bodies, rivers, lakes and ponds, free of pollution. Saying the Sabarmati Riverfront project’s planning and scope was “inadequate”, CAG underlined that the project “defeated” the objective of keeping the river clean. Central Effluent Treatment Plants were not complying with norms on quality of discharge either, it said.

On pollution, due to urbanization and industrialization, CAG said out of 170 urban local bodies, 46 were discharging sewage into rivers. Of these 46, only six had sewage treatment plants to release treated sewage into the rivers. Further, nine local bodies discharged untreated sewage into the lakes, 26 into natural drains, and nine into the sea.

CAG found holes in the pipelined water supply in rural areas. It said 32% of drinking water sources were contaminated during a pre-monsoon survey, and the affected villagers were not even alerted about this. As a result, there was no reduction in the incidence of water-borne diseases across the state.

With all but four Congress MLAs suspended from the House, there could be no debate on the damning CAG reports. As soon as the house began functioning on Friday, MLAs Rajendrasinh Parmar, Paranjayadityasinhji Parmar, Jodhaji Thakore and Amit Chavda sought discussion on

, which the speaker Ganpar Vasava disallowed.

The quartet rushed to the well carrying banners on CAG. They were suspended, quite predictably, and escorted out by the security staff.