Thiruvananthapuram: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found that Karunya Lottery has failed to fully meet its objective of providing financial assistance to the poor for the treatment of cancer, kidney, heart diseases and palliative care patients. The CAG report on the revenue sector placed in the Assembly on Tuesday pointed out that only 20 percent of the amount was paid to 3,142 beneficiaries. Even after the lapse of two to five years of disbursement, an unutilised amount of Rs 40.96 crore was lying in the account of hospitals, the report said.
A total of 1,520 beneficiaries who were sanctioned assistance for availing of treatment in six hospitals did not go to these hospitals. An amount of Rs 19.68 crore remained unutilised on this count. The claims of Rs 611.47 crore for 62,435 patients are pending for disbursement, the report said. The interest accrued to the tune of Rs 14.35 crore on the amount deposited by Karunya Benevolent Fund was credited in the bank accounts of selected government hospitals and Karunya Benevolent Fund.
Since the government permitted the use of only the net proceeds from Karunya Lotteries for treatment under Karunya Benevolent Fund, the interest should be credited to the consolidated fund, the report said. The lottery department did not pay charges for regulating the lotteries organised or promoted in the state.
Non-compliance of certain provisions in the statute leads to flaws in areas like printing and sale of ticket and disbursement of prizes. The department did not evolve an effective mechanism to wipe out the existence of fake lottery tickets. Non-Reconciliation of funds transferred to government hospitals leads to accumulation of Karunya Benevolent Fund in the bank account of hospitals. The non-conduct of inspection in accredited private hospitals leads to violation of agreement by the hospitals, the report said.
