Can Gogoi government explain the loss of Rs 19,214 crore?

Can Gogoi government explain the loss of Rs 19,214 crore?

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Aug 9: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi often claims on the floor of the State Assembly and at public meetings that he has been able to get more Central funds than what the former AGP government could get under six heads — the State Annual Plans, Central sector schemes, Centrally sponsored schemes, Non-Lapsable Pool of Resources (NLPR), Special Plans, and Schemes under the North Eastern Council (NEC). The vocal Chief Minister, however, stops short of making public the huge amount of sanctioned Central funds that his government has forfeited due to its failure to submit utilization certificates to the Centre on time. The failure on the part of the government to submit the utilization certificates of funds meant for various schemes points to the fact that funds received by the State Government have not been properly utilized. The Gogoi government had to forfeit a whopping Rs 19214.66-crore sanctioned funds against the six Central schemes from fiscal 2006-07 to fiscal 2009-10 due to its failure to submit their utilization certificates on time.

According to official sources, in the fiscal 2006-07, the State Government had to forfeit Rs 2579.82 crore of the total Rs 6956.61 crore sanctioned by the Centre for the six Central schemes due to failure on its part to submit the utilization certificates to the Centre on time.

Likewise, due to the failure on its part to submit the utilization certificates on time, the State Government had to forfeit Rs 7277.22 crore of the total Rs 11912.39 crore sanctioned against various Central schemes in the fiscal 2007-2008, Rs 3233.49 crore of the total Rs 9176.49 crore sanctioned in the fiscal 2008-2009, and Rs 6124.13 crore of the total Rs 12209.94 crore sanctioned in the fiscal 2009-2010.

In the State Annual Plans alone, the Gogoi government had to forfeit a huge amount of Rs 5451.22 crore sanctioned from fiscal 2006-2007 to fiscal 2009-2010 due to its failure to submit utilization certificates on time. In the fiscal 2006-2007, of a total of Rs 3,798-crore Central funds sanctioned against the six Central schemes, only Rs 2543.58 crore was released. The Centre did not release the remaining Rs 1254.42-crore sanctioned funds due to the failure on the part of the State Government to submit utilization certificates. Likewise, in the fiscal 2007-2008, only Rs 2832.66 crore of the total Rs 3,895-crore sanctioned funds were released by the Centre that held back Rs 1062.34 crore due to the failure of the State Government to submit utilization certificates. In the fiscal 2008-2009, the State Government had to lose Rs 906.67-crore sanctioned funds due to its failure to submit utilization certificates. Rs 4134.10 crore of a total sanctioned funds of Rs 5040.77 crore was released in that fiscal. In the fiscal 2009-2010, the State Government had to forfeit Rs 2227.79 crore due to non-submission of utilization certificates. Only Rs 3772.21 crore of the total Rs 6,000 crore sanctioned against the six Central schemes was released during that fiscal.

It is incumbent on the ‘development-centric’ Gogoi government to explain to the people of Assam why it had to forfeit such huge amounts whose proper utilization could have gone a long way in contributing to the development-starved State’s progress. THE SENTINEL