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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, K Sanjay Murthy, is set to conduct a comprehensive audit of Indian Railways' multi-modal transport and logistics initiatives, focusing on the National Rail Plan (NRP) 2030 and the PM Gati Shakti policy.
The audit report is expected to provide comprehensive and practical insights, offering recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of India's logistics ecosystem. The report is planned to be placed before the Parliament in the Monsoon Session of 2026. The audit aims to evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives such as the Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal (GCT) policy and the development of multimodal logistics infrastructure. The CAG will assess the regulatory and legal framework, logistics operations, digitisation, and ease of doing business in logistics, keeping in mind international best practices. The audit will cover nine Railway Zones, three Ministries, Logistics-related Railway PSUs, and selected Origin-Destination (O-D) pairs critical to freight movement. The CAG has engaged IIM Mumbai as a Knowledge Partner to strengthen the analytical and strategic framework of the audit. Earlier today, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, K Sanjay Murthy, approved the creation of two new specialised cadres within the Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD): the Central Revenue Audit (CRA) Cadre and the Central Expenditure Audit (CEA) Cadre, effective January 1, 2026. This reform aims to enhance professional expertise and improve the quality of audit of the Central Government finances. The decentralised cadre control has led to fragmentation, with cadres distributed across 16 and 19 Cadre Controlling Authorities for CRA and CEA, respectively. The new cadres will consolidate over 4,000 audit professionals, promoting specialisation in revenue and expenditure audits. The CRA Cadre will focus on auditing government revenue collections, while the CEA Cadre will focus on government expenditure. Key benefits include deeper domain expertise in revenue and expenditure audits, reduced cadre-controlling authorities, transparent rotation and postings, improved manpower deployment, uniform practices and reduced administrative overhead. The reform will introduce separate SAS examination streams for CRA and CEA, merging the existing Finance & Communication Audit stream into CEA. Officers will be required to qualify in cadre-specific papers, and appointments will be made through these specialised streams. The CAG aims to strengthen public audit, achieving greater professional depth and enhancing financial oversight of the Central Government. (ANI)
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