Congress Party deputy leader in the Assembly K.C. Joseph on Wednesday alleged that plan development had come to a grinding halt as a result of the serious financial crunch and plan expenditure had touched an all-time low in the last five years.
In a statement here, Mr. Joseph said the local bodies were required to achieve 70% plan expenditure as per the norms fixed by the State government. But according to the latest figures, the village panchayats had spent only 34% of their total allocation.
Block panchayats had spent only 33%, the Municipalities 30.5%, corporations 26.6% and District panchayats 18.4%. The total expenditure was below 30%, he said.
The Government had imposed unannounced treasury curbs and only salary payments were being made. Since the treasury curbs would be in force till January 15, it would not be possible for the government to clear the work contractors’ bill arrears to the tune of over ₹1500 crore.
The various projects such as housing for all, Haritha Kerala and Aardram missions were present only in advertisements. In LIFE Mission, the State Government had not been able to give sanction to even a single house after its launch a year ago, he said.
The Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana and the housing scheme under the SC & ST Department too were non-starters as far as the State was concerned, affecting a large number of poor people.
He feared that ration distribution would be affected in the coming months owing to the failure of the State government to pay Food Corporation of India its dues.
The State Government had failed to lift the 3500 tonnes of rice released by the Centre for distribution to those affected by the Ockhi cyclone, pointing out to the gross inefficiency of the Finance Department, he said.
