CAG raps govt for funds diversion

“Between 2004 and 2009,the UP government invested as much as Rs 2,482 crore for augmenting the physical infrastructure of the two regions. Despite the investment,15 most backward districts of UP were in Bundelkhand and eastern UP,” said the CAG in its report for the year ending March 2009. The report was tabled in both Houses of the state legislature on Thursday.

The report also questioned the wisdom of the UP government in not evaluating how far the investment in infrastructure addressed the problem of backwardness. The evaluation division of the state planning institute did not conduct any evaluation study in either region in the last 10 years,the CAG noted.

The CAG conducted the audit of the development works undertaken in both regions between 2004 and 2009,financed from the Vikas Nidhi. It said the audit revealed that allocation of funds to both regions was not made by taking into account the disparities and deficiencies in development. Expressing unhappiness over the poor monitoring of development works,the CAG said the red tape and irregularities in funds utilisation also adversely affected development.

The report said due to the delay in sanction of the second installment,several schemes remained incomplete for anything between one to seven years. In seven districts of east UP,156 road projects sanctioned between 2000 and 2007 were incomplete even at the end of 2008. Moreover,in violation of the guidelines for expenditure of funds from the Vikas Nidhi,funds were spent on the construction of shelter for teachers,marriage halls,welcome gates outside towns and also on graveyards and cremation grounds. The report said the divisional commissioners approved expenditure of Rs 5.70 crore on such works — in flagrant violation of the state’s guidelines.

The state government had set up the development fund for the two regions in 1990-91. The regions included 29 districts. The fund was set up to mobilise additional resources for accelerating the development of both regions and address the problem of regional imbalances and disparities in development.

Besides the devolution of funds to the both regions from the Vikas Nidhi,funds were also made available from the Bundelkhand development package in 2006 and also from the grants of the Twelfth Finance Commission (2006-09).