BHUBANESWAR: Though the budget size of the Odisha government increased over years, huge amounts provided for different schemes and programme remained unspent.
The total allocation in nine budgets of the state government from 2007-08 to 2015-16 was Rs 4,45,094.46 crore out of which Rs 37,449.73 crore could not be spent.
This was admitted by planning and coordination minister Usha Devi in a written reply to a question from Dilip Ray (BJP) in the assembly. On an average Rs 4,161, crore remained unspent during the nine-year period.
The minister said in the nine budgets Rs 2,72,689.67 crore was provided in the non-plan sector, out of which Rs 2,45,532.44 crore was spent. Similarly, out of allocation of Rs 1,55,348.05 crore in the planning sector during the period, Rs 1,48,747.85 crore was utilised.
Nearly half of provisions made for the central schemes remained unspent. The minister said out of Rs 6552.79 crore earmarked for the central schemes in nine years, Rs 3940.23 crore was spent.
Similarly, Rs 9424.12 crore, out of an allocation of Rs 10,503.95 crore made for the centrally sponsored schemes were utilised during the period, she said.
The minister said out of the budget estimate of Rs 80,139.57 crore in 2014-15, Rs 66,679.82 crore was spent resulting in the highest unspent amount of Rs 13,459.75 crore during the nine years. Though the
situation improved during the 2015-16 financial year, still the unspent budget amount was `5373.68 crore.
Out of the budget estimate of Rs 84,487.78 crore in 2015-16, Rs 79,114.1 crore was utilised during the year, she said.