Bhubaneswar: In a recent report, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has claimed that several promises made by the Odisha government in its annual Budgets either remained only on paper or were partially executed for varied reasons.
The observation was made by CAG in the audit report on the finances of the state for the 2019-20 fiscal.
Several policy initiatives/schemes (Rs 1 crore and above) were initiated by the state government in the 2019-20 fiscal and it was seen that these were either partially executed or not executed at all,” the report said.
The report claimed that six and schemes announced by the state government were never executed. For instance, the report claimed that the government had made provision for Rs 1,000 lakh for KHUSHI scheme of the Health Department for the fiscal, but it was not executed.
Similar was the fate of Ama Ghare LED Light scheme of the Energy Department, which had a budgetary provision of Rs 12,500 lakh, This scheme was also not executed.
The Micro and Small Enterprise Cluster Development Programme under the MSME Ministry was allocated Rs 150 lakh but it could not be utilised as the department did not receive the Central share for setting up a new common facility centre.
The Sankalpa scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Scheme also remained only on paper as it was not executed despite a budgetary allocation of Rs 100 lakh.
A sum of Rs 1,550 lakh was envisioned for the Jal Dhara Construction of Dugwell and Farm Pond works under the Agriculture Department but the entire amount was surrendered due to non-approval of the scheme.
The construction and renovation of Forest Department buildings and the state Forest Academy also met the same fate and the entire amount allocated for the project was also surrendered, the CAG said in its report.
The CAG, while commenting on the issue, said, “Further, the audit noticed that under nine existing subschemes approved outlay/revised outlay involving an amount of Rs 163.51 crore remained completely unutilised during the 2019-20 fiscal as no expenditure was incurred.”
It also added, “This not only deprived the beneficiaries of the intended benefits of these schemes, but also deprived other departments of the funds, where the amounts could have been utilised properly.”
In all, the CAG found that 10 schemes/announcements suffered setback as the government decided not to execute them. These include schemes coming under the Forest and Environment Department, Agriculture Department, Skill Development and Technical Education Department, Health Department and others.
The national auditor also noted that the state had made budgetary allocation of Rs 60,000 lakh under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA) but could not utilise about Rs 42,107.57 due to imposition of COVID-related lockdown.
In its report, the CAG also found lacuna in the Cash Management System of the government. “As per the Regulation of Expenditure 2019-20 in Cash Management System, the flow of expenditure should be evenly placed.
In terms of the instructions of the Finance Department dated 30 April 2018, the level of expenditure at the end of the third quarter should not be less than 60 per cent and during the month of March, the same should not be more than 15 per cent of the gross budgetary provisions,” the report said.
PNN
