Friday, Jul 25, 2003
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Kerala
By Our Staff Reporter
The Principal Secretary (Finance), Sudha Pillai, said the GO was issued with the objective of getting the local bodies to spend their yearly allocation instead of carrying over the funds. She said several other States including West Bengal had already adopted the same step in a bid to maintain financial discipline and bring in a sense of accountability. She added that the Government move had to be viewed as a corrective step and not as an effort to derail the decentralisation process. Ms.Pillai said the glut caused by unspent funds had seriously affected the physical performance of local bodies, leading to inefficiency and laxity on the part of officials. The large number of incomplete projects and the violation of procedures in spending money as revealed in audit reports also forced the Government's hand, she said. The local fund audit, inspection of sub-treasuries and the performance audit of local bodies for various years during the period from 1996 to 2002 had exposed irregularities including recurring minus balance due to erroneous credit in the plan PD account. Government guidelines on the utilisation of Plan funds were flouted. Several local bodies were found to have allotted money without specifying the projects for which the amount was transferred. There was no record regarding utilisation of fund by implementing officers and no steps were taken to recover excess payments. Diversion of Plan funds for loan repayment and interest were also reported. Many local bodies had spent less than 50 per cent of the allocation. The performance audit of village panchayats, District Panchayats, block panchayats and municipalities from 1997- 98 to 2001- 2002 reveals that Rs.136.19 crores deposited with various agencies for Plan projects remained unspent. About Rs.38.72 crores of equipment purchased using Plan funds was found to be idling. A sum of Rs.74.45 crores was paid as advance to conveners of beneficiary committees for still-born projects or those not completed. Projects worth Rs.20.95 crores were reported to have failed to meet their objectives. The audit report points to widespread violation of Government Orders and Panchayati Raj rules in the implementation of the Plan Campaign. The inspection of sub-treasuries during the year 2001- 2002 also revealed gross irregularities in the operation of deposits by local bodies. Several panchayats were found to be transferring funds from one account to another without specific orders from competent authorities. The GO issued on July 9 specifies the procedures for release of Plan funds earmarked as assistance to local bodies for decentralised planning and implementation of schemes prepared by them. The funds will be released on monthly basis. The instalments due for April, May, June and July 2003 will be released as a single instalment in July this year, it says. The release will be transferred to a new plan PD account in the name of the Secretary of the local body and only Plan funds would be credited to this account.
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