- Pant directs full utilisation of state budget

By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 27 July: Planning Minister Prakash Pant today chaired a meeting of senior officials from various departments at the Secretariat here today. He expressed deep dissatisfaction at the poor utilisation of funds by various departments and directed them to ensure full utilisation of the remaining budget in respect of the allocations made during last year.
Pant was particularly angry at non-utilisation of funds under the BADP and BRGF funds. He directed the officials concerned to expedite the budget utilisation under these programmes, as they were crucial programmes for development works in the border and the backward regions.
The Planning Minister was also angry at non-utilisation of funds released on 1 April, 2010 by some departments. He directed the officials to make sure that the departments under them utilised the entire unspent funds related to last year by 30 September, 2010. He observed that the programmes and the schemes were not being implemented seriously by some departments.
It was stated during the meeting that out of the total outlay of Rs 6,801.47 crores for the FY 2010-11, the budget provisions amounted to Rs 5117.376 crores. The total budget released against the provisions till 30 June, 2010 amounted to Rs 1957.35 crores which was 38.25 percent of the budget provision. Against the released amount, the total utilisation of the funds so far amounted to Rs 439.23 crores which was 22.44 percent of the approvals.
It was noted that the total outlay under the District Sector for the year 2010-11 was Rs 500 crores. Against this amount, the total budget provision amounted to Rs 318.02 crores and, of this amount, total releases were to the tune of Rs 297.28 crores, so far. This was 93.48 percent of the budget provision under the district sector.
The total expenditure under the district sector so far was Rs 69.27 crores which was 23.30 percent of the amount released so far.
Pant emphasised that the financial powers of the district magistrates and the commissioners had been delegated so that the funds could be utilised faster. The decentralisation of the planning process had shown better results, he added.
It was further stated during the meeting that the total outlay under the State Sector for the FY 2010-11 was Rs 3,700.65 crores while the budget provision amounted to Rs 2206.20 crores. Against this, the total releases issued till 30 June under the State Sector were to the tune of 849.59 crores which amounted to 38.51 percent of the budget provision. Against this, the total expenditure so far was Rs 186.93 crores which was 22 percent of the amount released, so far.
Under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes, the total outlay for the year 2010-11 was Rs 1523.58 crores while the budget provision amounted to Rs 1593.44. Against this, the total releases issued till 30 June, 2010 were to the tune of Rs 557.52 crores or 34.99 percent of the approvals made so far. The total expenditure made so far was Rs 120.07 crores which was 21.54 percent of the releases issued.
The total outlay under the Externally Aided Schemes for the FY 2010-11 was Rs 1077.24 crores while the budget provision was to the tune of Rs 999.71 crores. Till 30 June, 2010, the total amount released was Rs 252.96 crores or 25.30 percent of the provision. Against the releases, the total expenditure so far was Rs 62.96 crores which was 24.89 percent of the amount released.
It was further noted that an unspent amount of Rs 139.68 crores was available with the Water Supply Department as on 1 April, 2010, an amount of Rs 65.77 crores under MNREGA, Rs 27.76 crores with the Power Department, Rs 25.61 crores with the Panchayati Raj Department, Rs 21.67 crores with the PWD (for roads & bridges), Rs 21.65 crores under the BADP, Rs 19.80 crores with the Health Department, Rs 18.90 crores under Swajal and Sanitation. An amount of Rs 1397 crores was available with various departments as on 30 June of which Rs 314.53 crores were utilised.
Pant expressed serious displeasure at the utilisation of merely 22 percent of the funds available under the Annual Plan and the Flagship programmes. He directed the officials to expedite the utilisation of funds and to utilise all the unspent funds from the previous year by 30 September, 2010.