THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : With 67 days left for the financial year-end, the plan fund utilisation stands at 53.29%, data with the State Planning Board (SPB) showed.
The annual plan presented in the state budget comprises projects to be implemented by government departments, agencies, PSUs and the assistance to local self-government institutions (LSGI).
The aggregate plan outlay comprises the state plan, funded by the state government, and receipts from the centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) and the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). It has been pointed out that the acute financial crisis is the reason for the delay in plan fund utilisation.
The aggregate plan outlay for the current fiscal was Rs 38,629.19 crore. Of this, Rs 30,370 crore was under the state plan and Rs 8,259 crore under CSS-NCDC combined.
According to the latest figures with the SPB, the spending from the aggregate plan outlay stood at 53.29%. The progress of the state plan outlay, excluding LSGI, was 54.27% and CSS-NCDC 50.23%.
While the curbs on open market borrowings and the delay in getting central funds are the reasons attributed for the financial crisis faced by the government, the crisis is delaying the implementation of the plan projects.
Finance Minister K N Balagopal, however, allayed concerns over the slow pace.
“Every year, a significant portion of the plan fund is released in March. The same will be the case this year too. The final figure will be much more than the current one,” he told TNIE.
The annual plan has twelve heads under which the projects are listed. A sum of Rs 2,030.07 crore was earmarked for 289 schemes under the head “Agriculture and Allied Services” this year. The spending or financial progress of this head is 36.98%. Of the total outlay of Rs 1,818.66 crore for “Industry and Minerals”, 32.87% was spent. The heads “Social and Community Services” and “Transport and Communications” recorded 52.88% and 57.96% progress respectively. The lowest spending was for “Cooperation”, at 8.82%, and “Scientific Services and Research”, at 20.16%.
The segment-wise figures showed that the state government’s spending on Life Mission, the housing scheme for the poor, was 3.76%. A total of `717 crore was earmarked for the programme, in which Rs 525 crore was for rural housing and Rs 192 crore for urban housing. They recorded 4.23% and 2.46% progress respectively.
Aggregate annual plan outlay Rs 38,629.19 cr
Progress - 53.30%
LSGI plan outlay Rs 8,258 crore
Progress - 53.66%