Manipur: Rs 890 crore Central fund unutilised, CM Biren Singh says technical issues delayed spending
The CM highlighted that September onwards, the unutilized balance has reduced substantially though he did not give details of that reduction. Manipur government also pointed towards a modification in CSS guidelines which are “causing current delays”.
- Dec 05, 2022,
- Updated Dec 05, 2022, 3:38 PM IST
Around Rs 890 crore of funds designated for Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) in Manipur have remained unutilized under the Single Nodal Agency (SNA) account as of December 1, an internal audit of the government has found.
Of these Rs 177 crore have remained unspent in health sector, Rs 153.65 in rural development, Rs 147.77 in minority affairs department, Rs 98.44 crore in n public health and engineering department (PHED) and Rs 18.45 crore were left unused in social welfare department. Under PHED, the amount was to be spent on Jal Jeevan Mission and National Rural Drinking Water Mission—two of the much-publicised initiatives by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh attributed this delay in fund utilisation to certain “technical issues in making payment”. “The utilisation of funds got delayed due to technical issues that arose as a result of the new PFMS SNA Model of Centrally Sponsored Schemes,” Singh told India Today NE.
Elaborating further, the chief minister said that most of the unutilized funds had been released in the current financial year, after July 2022. Due to monsoon, the working season has started just now, in November, after a delay of four months. “Payments will be made as per progress of work and completion,” said Singh. Besides, as funds are released to department for CSS from time to time, there will always be always some unutilised account, explained the CM. “There will never be NIL unutilized balance.”
The CM highlighted that September onwards, the unutilized balance has reduced substantially though he did not give details of that reduction. Manipur government also pointed towards a modification in CSS guidelines which are “causing current delays”. But Singh promises better performance in the future: “Government is monitoring CSS expenditure closely to ensure that funds are utilized timely and further instalments are received from the Union government,” Singh told India Today NE.
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