HYDERABAD: The budget management of the Telangana government for the year ended March 2015 was poor,according to the Comptroller and Audit General of India (CAG). The CAG has also exposed the draw backs in implementing the muchpublicised flagship programmes of the state government during the last financial year. The first such report on TS government by CAG was tabled in the State Legislative Assembly here on Wednesday. “Evidence of unrealistic budgetary assumptions and weakness in expenditure monitoring and control were noticed during the year 2015. The entire supplementary provision of Rs 5,359 crore proved unnecessary as theactual expenditure of Rs 64,097 crore incurred was less than the original budget provision of Rs 1,01,323 crore and savings for the year stood at Rs 42,854 crore (40 per cent). Out of the savings, Rs 24,622 crore was surrendered on March 31, 2015,” the CAG said in its report on state finances.
Several policy initiatives taken by the government were either unfulfilled or partially executed, primarily due to non-approval of scheme guidelines/modalities, non-commencement of works for want of administrative sanction and poor project implementation, apart from non-release of funds.
“There were several instances of misclassification in the budget on subsidies, subvention from Central Road Fund etc which indicates deficiencies in budget formulation. Unrealistic budgetary allocations resulting in substantial savings, unnecessary supplementary grants, expenditure incurred without provision and excess re-appropriations resulting in excess provision are indication of poor budget management,” CAG report said.
MAJOR SCHEMES: Several major policy initiatives/flagship schemes were announced by government in 2014-15 reflecting its socio-economic priorities. Some major policy initiatives/schemes outlined in budget speech/annual plan for 2014-15 were scrutinised in audit on test check basis to verify their implementation.
WATER GRID: Out of the total budget provision of Rs 2,000 crore for 2014-15, only Rs 105 crore was released (Dec 2014) and credited to the PD account in Jan 2015 towards investigation, design and detailed estimate preparation. Subsequently, the entire amount was withdrawn and deposited in IDBI Bank, of which Rs 103.5 crore was kept in fixed deposits (Feb 2015) for a period of six months.
YADAGIRIGUTTA: Out of the total budget provision of Rs 200 crore, an amount of Rs 100 crore was released on March 31, 2015. However, no expenditure was incurred. The department replied that they could not incur any expenditure during the year as funds were released on March 31, 2015. However, it was noticed in audit that an amount of Rs 71.20 crore was lying in PD account as of July 31, 2015.
KALYANA LAKSHMI: The government provided Rs 150 crore in the budget during the year for 29,410 SC girls, of which an amount of Rs 60 crore was released and only Rs 26.73 crore was expended covering 5,242 SC girls. In respect of ST girls Rs 80 crore was allocated, of which Rs 20 crore was released and Rs 12.88 crore was expended covering 2,530 ST girls against physical target of 15,686. The shortfall in achievement was attributed to lack of awareness of the newly-introduced scheme, problems in developing software, lack of coordination among revenue department, SC development department, treasury and banks, etc.
2-BH HOUSES: An amount of Rs 111.58 crore was provided in the budget for construction of two-bedroom houses for poor in rural areas. But no expenditure was incurred during the year due to non-finalisation of scheme modalities. An amount of Rs 7.29 crore was provided in the budget for urban areas. As part of the urban area programme, the GHMC is the scheme implementing agency and each house was sanctioned in GHMC area with a unit cost of Rs 7.90 lakh and Rs 1.32 lakh for infrastructure. However, no amount was released in spite of requests from the GHMC.
TELANGANA
AMARAVIRUALA PATHAKAM: The government budgeted Rs 100 crore during 2014-15 to provide financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to each of the 1,000 bereaved families who have sacrificed their lives for achieving statehood of TS. The government released Rs 48.10 crore in March 2015 and accorded administrative sanction for 481 identified beneficiaries. Subsequently, an amount of Rs 43.6 crore was drawn and financial assistance of Rs 43 crore was disbursed to 430 families. Remaining payments were not made.
SC/ST SUB-PLAN: During 2014-15, amounts of Rs 7,579.45 crore (15.58 pc) and Rs 4,559.81 crore (9.37 pc) were allocated for SCSP and TSP respectively. But only 32 pc and 26 pc amounts were spent on SCSP and TSP respectively against allocated amount, resulting in huge savings of 68 pc and 74 pc. It would be evident that the intended purpose was not achieved due to non-utilisation of funds.