BHUBANESWAR: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said the Odisha government has surrendered Rs 8,500 crore as it was not able to utilise the funds provided by the Centre for Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). Talking to mediapersons after inaugurating a national workshop on Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals in Gram Panchayats here, the union minister said the Centre had allocated the fund for PRIs in Odisha as per the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission, but the state failed to utilise it.
Pradhan also targeted the state during his speech at the seminar stating the government should not use funds coming from the Centre for PRIs in the name of convergence and spend it otherwise. He said the state government should sign a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for implementation of PM SHRI Yojana. Odisha will get as many as 800 schools under PM-SHRI scheme and receive central allocation of Rs 1,600 crore.
However, the state government is yet to sign an MoU for the purpose, Pradhan said while requesting the state government to cooperate with the Centre for the development of education sector in Odisha. Stating that the Centre is spending Rs 1,82,000 crore for schemes relating to child and women development, the union minister said under food security and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Rs 41,547 crore will be utilised. Similarly, Centre has allocated Rs 15,433 crore and Rs 53, 04000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana respectively.
Pradhan said implementation of central schemes will not succeed unless PRI representatives are properly empowered and involved in the process. The minister also underlined the need for proper utilisation of funds meant for different programmes. BJD Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sasmit Patra said that as Pradhan is the union education minister, he may not fully know how the panchayatiraj department functions in Odisha.