AHMEDABAD: The 2024 CAG report on Gujarat’s Border Area Development Programme (BADP) has exposed glaring irregularities, negligence, and critical lapses by the state home department. Tabled in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, the report uncovers deep-rooted flaws in project execution.Over six years (2016-17 to 2021-22), auditors scrutinised 958 cases across 158 border villages in Banaskantha, Kutch, and Patan, revealing a pattern of mismanagement and oversight failures. The CAG report, tabled in the Gujarat Assembly on Friday, has ripped apart Gujarat’s Border Area Development Programme (BADP), exposing glaring inefficiencies, financial mismanagement, and systemic neglect.Designed to uplift remote villages along the international border, BADP aimed to saturate these areas with essential infrastructure. Yet, not a single village has been declared ‘saturated’ since the programme’s inception, signalling a fundamental failure in execution.From planning to implementation, deficiencies run deep. The home department, tasked with executing BADP in Banaskantha, Kutch, and Patan, failed to conduct baseline surveys, leaving critical gaps in physical and social infrastructure unidentified. There was no village-wise action plan, no defined criteria for ‘saturation,’ and no strategic prioritisation of villages in consultation with the Border Security Force (BSF). As a result, all 158 border villages in the first phase (0-10 km) remain underdeveloped.Decision-making processes were equally flawed. District-level plans were discussed only five times between 2016-21, while the State Level Screening Committee (SLSC) failed to meet as required for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 Annual Action Plans (AAPs). The department consistently missed deadlines for AAP submissions from 2016-17 to 2020-21, delaying project execution and completion. The absence of structured planning led to ad-hoc project selection without proper justification.
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