There seems to be no logical end to the demand for release of funds to Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The corporation authorities are sceptical about receiving the dues.
The Andhra Pradesh Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APUFIDC) officials, who visited the city to crosscheck the payments made by the VMC and vouchers related to it, left the job midway and headed for Hyderabad.
Prior to this, many attempts were made to break the deadlock. The government asked the APFUIDC to “reconcile” the accounts following a gross mismatch between the VMC claims and the APUFIDC calculations. Both organisations, however, continue to be at loggerheads as these moves did not yield any positive results.
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The VMC has been claiming Rs.200 crore dues pertaining to the JNNURM programme from the State government, but the APUFIDC, a nodal agency to release funds, has been asserting that no dues are pending.
The VMC has taken up 19 projects valued at Rs.1418 crore. Later, the projects’ costs were revised and pegged at Rs. 1,788 crore.
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The APUFIDC has released Rs. 641 crore towards the Central and the State governments’ share of 70 per cent of the projects cost. The VMC has spent Rs. 260 crore, taking the total expenditure to Rs. 900 crore.
Funds stopped
The State government had stopped release of its share and Centre’s share for various reasons. Non-compliance of reforms and failure to collect the beneficiary contribution (for housing schemes) are some of the reasons cited for stoppage of the funds. In addition, there are audit objections over approval of tenders and awarding of work orders also.
The government took a serious view of bypassing the tendering committee while approving tenders valued over Rs.10 crore. The VMC had completed works valued at Rs.936.91 crore by January. Of this, the VMC share was only Rs.281.07 crore. However, it spent Rs.41.35 crore in excess.
The works to the tune of Rs.485.76 crore were still pending. The VMC had asked the APUFIDC to disclose the funds released to it so far.