CUDDALORE: Tamil Nadu is yet to register any of the 721 urban local bodies (ULB) under the Public Financial Management System (PFMS), a portal created by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) to track fund disbursement under various government schemes.
Earlier known as Central Plan Scheme Monitoring system, the portal was created by CGA to track the last level of utilisation of funds on a real time basis. It is learnt that Tamil Nadu, along with a few other States, is yet to register a single urban local body.
The portal was created by the CGA in the wake of the Union Ministry of Urban Development implementing the Swachch Bharat Mission with a goal to make the country clean and open defecation-free by October 2, 2019.
It is learnt that 1,382 urban local bodies of the total 3,471 local bodies in 24 states and Union Territories have registered in the portal.
Sources said that this makes up for only 40 per cent of the local bodies that have registered under Public Financial Management System.
AP, Goa, Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan and Chandigarh are a few of those states which have registered most of their urban local bodies on the portal thus making it convenient to monitor the flow of funds from the Centre to the lowest level of implementation and thus enhancing transparency and accountability in public expenditure.
Tamil Nadu, having a total of 721 urban local bodies, is the only State which has one of the largest number of urban local bodies to be registered.
Sources indicated that besides TN, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telengana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland have yet to register a single local body.
Sources believe that the electronic fund tracking mechanism will allow the government to monitor and access the more than `1 lakh crore of idle funds lying with it under various heads. It is learnt that the Centre provides funds for 797 schemes with a total outlay of `4.8 lakh crore.
