PORVORIM: The state government’s famed social security schemes came under intense criticism by the Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG ) for wasteful expenditure and if one adds up the monies that the auditor said several departments have wasted or failed to recover, Goa could have missed out on at least Rs 1,406.3 crore in 2016-17.The government’s expenditure increased by 22% in 2016-17, but the CAG in its report on the state finances appeared worried as it may have incurred some “avoidable extra expenditure” due to “weak internal controls and monitoring mechanisms” in various government departments.Apart from the Rs 1,406 crore, CAG also said crores of taxpayers’ money that was given to “ineligible and bogus beneficiaries” under the Dayanand Social Security Scheme, Griha Aadhar Scheme and Laadli Laxmi schemes.The CAG report for the year ending March 2017 said the state government spent Rs 10,976 crore in 2016-17, of which the revenue expenditure of the government stood at Rs 8,866 crore, a 20% increase.The report gives special attention to the social welfare schemes—some of which that the BJP government initiated in 2012—and made scathing observations about the manner in which the state incurred expenditure on the three schemes.“A performance audit of implementation of these three schemes for the period 2012-17 revealed deficiencies in identification of beneficiaries due to inadequate scrutiny of applications by the implementing departments, flaws in the application software system, and failure to conduct periodical survey of target beneficiaries,” the CAG report said.During the routine audit of the commercial tax department, the CAG identified deficiencies in “internal control mechanisms” and irregularities in assessments that led to a shortfall in revenue and lower tax collections.“Uncollected revenue recoverable by the (commercial tax) department was Rs 1,223.8 crore as on March 31, 2017, of which Rs 441.7 crore was pending recovery for more than six years,” the CAG noted.The tax revenue raised by the state government in 2016-17 was Rs 4,261 crore.Failure on the part of the directorate of mining and geology in assessing the correct amount of stamp duty resulted in short recovery of stamp duty and registration amounting to Rs 108.4 crore in 2016-17.Similar lapses were observed by the CAG in the public works department (PWD). The PWD prepared the estimates for a water supply project based on the schedule of rates of 2008, while tenders for supply of ductile irone pipes under the project were floated in December 2013. Since the rates of the pipes had reduced significantly during the intervening period of five years, the department ended up paying Rs 2.3 crore more to the contractor, the CAG report said.