Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 27: Promising moon to the people vis-à-vis development during elections, the legislators from various constituencies of Jammu district have failed to ensure 100 per cent utilization of funds released under Constituency Development Scheme (CDS) thereby adversely affecting the development of their respective areas.
This has been revealed in the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which has pointed out that utilization of funds under Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) for the Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary Constituency in Jammu district, which is part of this Lok Sabha segment, was not satisfactory during the period between 2006-2011.
“The utilization of funds ranged between 42 and 82 per cent which was much below the State average of 89.61 per cent and national average of 91.32 per cent. This adversely affected the development of the constituency”, the CAG pointed out in the report, which was tabled in both the Houses of State Legislature during the recently concluded session at summer capital.
When the CAG sought to know the reasons behind unsatisfactory utilization of funds, the Chief Planning Officer, Jammu only gave a vague reply that the implementing agencies would be instructed to expedite completion of the ongoing works to improve utilization of funds.
During the audit check of records relating to works sanctioned under MPLADS several discrepancies came to the notice of CAG, the report said, adding “the department sanctioned various works of construction of library and main auditorium building, gyms, computer rooms at various private schools, purchase of computers for private schools and maintenance works after incurring Rs 0.33 crore despite being proscribed under the programme guidelines”.
On this discrepancy, there was again an indistinct reply from the Chief Planning Officer, who only stated that utmost care would be taken while sanctioning the works under the scheme in future.
The test check of the records of Assistant Commissioner (Development), Jammu by the CAG revealed that 104 works approved at an estimated cost of Rs 1.42 crore under MPLADS during the period 2003-09 had not been taken up for execution till August 2010 even after a lapse of more than 18 months to 6 years. “This not only reflected poor implementation of the schemes but also adversely impacted the development of the district”, the CAG said.
As per the guidelines, only those works are to be taken up for execution under the scheme which can generally be completed within one year but the test check of the records of the ACD Jammu revealed that 131 works taken up for execution during 1997-98 to 2008-09 had not been completed till August 2010 due to non-release of balance funds required for the completion of the works. “This rendered the expenditure of Rs 1.13 crore incurred on these incomplete works as unfruitful”, the CAG said.
Like MPLADS, the CAG has also detected poor utilization of funds under the Constituency Development Scheme (CDS) for the MLAs and MLCs. The situation of unsatisfactory utilization of funds can be gauged from the fact that the unspent balances had increased from Rs 4.17 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 11.59 crore in 2010-11.
The records revealed that Rs 2.93 crore had been lying with the implementing agencies which indicated poor financial management. It was also seen that the district administration had neither maintained records properly nor reconciled the unspent balances with the treasury.
The records further revealed that the department sanctioned works such as religious places, private hospitals, purchase of books for the library of Bar Association and maintenance works in violation of guidelines. The report said that 315 works approved by the DDC during 1999-2000 to 2008-09 at an estimated cost of Rs 3.04 crore, for which an amount of Rs 2.98 crore was released, had not been taken up till August 2010 even after a lapse of 18 months to 10 years. “Not taking up of the works adversely impacted the implementation of the scheme as well as developmental works”, the CAG said.
The guidelines envisage that only those works should be taken up for execution under the scheme which can generally be completed within one year but the records revealed that 149 works taken up for execution at an estimated cost of Rs 1.84 crore under the scheme during the period 1997-98 to 2008-09 by 13 MLAs and 12 MLCs had not been completed till August 2010 due to non-release of balance funds. “This rendered the expenditure of Rs 1.14 crore incurred on these in-completed works as unfruitful”, the report said.
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