Lack of coordination between SPD, Directors of School Education
Slackness becomes obstacle in creation of intended infra
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 27: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has detected blocking of Rs 21.48 crore Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan funds for nearly four years because of lack of coordination between the Project Director and Directors of School Education Kashmir/Jammu. Due to this, there was inordinate delay in the creation of intended infrastructure under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme aimed at providing improved facilities to the students.
The Project Approval Board of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), Government of India (GoI), in its 231st meeting held in the month of February 2016 approved the Annual Works Plan and Budget (AWP&B) 2016-17 for Jammu and Kashmir. The AWP&B 2016-17 included civil works under SSA (separate girls toilet, boundary wall, furniture for Government upper primary school and construction of building etc.).
The State Project Director (SPD), SSA J&K released in the month of March 2017, Rs 21.48 crore in favour of Director School Education (DSE) Jammu (Rs 9.76 crore) and Director School Education Kashmir (Rs 11.72 crore) with the direction not to utilize these funds till further detailed instructions were issued.
During the audit scrutiny conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in the month of July 2020 of the records of Director School Education Jammu it came to the fore that no further instructions for utilization of these funds were received from State Project Director, SSA J&K.
The amount of Rs 9.76 crore was held in the official saving bank account and invested in the month of March 2018 in Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) for a period of six months. Interest of Rs 3.13 crore accrued in the saving and fixed deposits was transferred in the month of August 2020 to the Project Director Samagra Shiksha. Similarly, Rs 11.72 crore released in the month of March 2017 to Director School Education, Kashmir also remained unutilized till December 2020 in the savings bank account due to non-receipt of any directions for their utilization.
“Failure of the Department to get Action Plan prepared by subordinate offices for utilization of funds received under AWP&B 2016-17 and improper release of funds without a road map for their utilization had resulted in blocking of Rs 21.48 crore and non-fulfillment of objective of creating intended infrastructure under SSA”, the CAG said, adding “on being pointed out in audit, Director School Education Jammu and Director School Education Kashmir stated in the month of December 2020 that the funds remained unutilized as they had not raised any demand under the Civil Works SSA Plan 2016-17 for release of these funds besides, the instructions for utilization of the funds released were also not received from the State Project Director”.
“Further Project Director, Samagra Shiksha stated in the month of February 2021 that as the works under different components were being finalized, the Directors of the School Education were instructed not to utilize the funds till further orders”, the CAG further said, adding “the School Education Department in the month of March 2017 issued directions to the State Project Director SSA/ RMSA that the funds available under SSA/ RMSA are released to the implementing agencies so as to ensure nil balance at the end of year in order to avoid any future cuts on account of unspent balance by the Ministry of Human Resources Development. Thus lack of planning, monitoring and coordination between the offices of State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, Directors of School Education resulted in blocking of Rs 21.48 crore for the nearly four years”.
The Comptroller and Auditor General had referred the matter to the Government and the School Education Department in the month of February 2021 but their replies were awaited till October 2021, read the report, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
The revelations made by the supreme audit institution of the country should be an eye-opener not only for those at the helm of affairs in the School Education Department but in the other wings of the Government as Union Government is very liberal in providing financial assistance to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for bringing transformation in each and every sector and slackness in timely utilization of funds amounts to depriving the targeted population of the benefits of these schemes.
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