The Hindu : State has not made use of Central schemes: BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 25, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

State has not made use of Central schemes: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore July 24. The Government was criticised in the Legislative Assembly by the BJP member, Araga Jnanendra, for not taking proper advantage of the Centrally aided schemes and for diverting funds given by the Centre for specific purposes.

Initiating the discussion on the demand for grants to Rural Development, Panchayat Raj, and other departments on Wednesday, Mr. Jnanendra, in support of his point, cited a case in which funds allotted by the Centre for rural infrastructure development had been used to clear electricity bills of gram panchayats.

The Centre, the member said, had released Rs.110 crore for the scheme, but Rs. 40 crore had been diverted to clear power bills. This was done on the basis of a circular and such diversion of funds should stop, he said.

Mr. Jnanendra referred to expenditure in excess of allocated funds in zilla panchayats such as Davangere and Chitradurga, and said in the absence of the system of monthly verification of accounts this would encourage misappropriation. There was also no internal audit of accounts for the past five years.

The member referred to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India about the cut of Rs. 8.14 crore from Central grants for Indira Awas programme during 2001-2002 because of the failure of the Government to furnish the utilisation certificate and said this had prevented construction of 4,068 houses.

This contention, however, was disputed by the Minister for Housing, C.R.Sageer Ahmed, who said the utilisation certificate had been sent two years ago along with a proposal, but despite this funds had not been received.

The Centre had set a target of 33,299 houses of which 28,910 had been completed and the rest were under progress. There was no question of lapse, but it was only a question of delay in receiving funds. Mr. Jnanendra also criticised the Government for the poor performance under the Prime Minister's Grameena Sadak Programme despite allocation of funds, and said the Government, which was unable to utilise even the funds allotted, could not make an accusation that funds had not been released.

The Minister of State for Rural Water Supply, R.B.Koliwad, replying to criticism about the State's failure to utilise Rs. 67.21 crore for drinking water schemes during 2000-2002, said the Chief Minister had written to the Centre seeking Rs. 100 crore each over the next five years to improve the quality of water in fluoride-affected areas.

The proposal, Mr. Koliwad said, was that the State would make a matching grant, but the Centre was yet to respond. As things stood, the Government could utilise only 20 per cent of the Rs. 115 crore given under the accelerated rural water supply scheme.

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