Rajnath tells officers to use 50% budget by Sept-end

Concerned over slow spending, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday asked officers of his ministry to ensure utilisation of 50 per cent of over Rs 75,000 crore budget by next-month end.

Singh reviewed the expenditure made by the Ministry of Home Affairs in this financial year. The Home Ministry has utilised about 30 per cent of the budget during first five month (April to August, 2016), out of total budget of Rs 75,355.48 crores for 2016-17, a statement issued by the Ministry said.

“The Union Home Minister has asked the officers to ensure that the budget utilisation increases to 50 per cent by the end of September, 2016,” it said. The majority of the Home Ministry budget has been earmarked for paramilitary forces like CRPF and BSF, responsible for internal security and border guarding duties. Presenting the general budget in Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in February announced an outlay of Rs 77,383.12 crore to the Home Ministry for 2016-17. Of these, a total of Rs 50,176.45 crore was allocated to seven paramilitary forces.

Among these forces, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), deployed for internal security, action against Maoists and operations against militants, was given the highest at Rs 16,228.18 crore.

Border security Force, which guards Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangladesh borders, was allocated Rs 14,652.90 crore while Central Industrial Security Force, responsible for security of country’s airports, nuclear installation, key government buildings and private entities like Infosys, was given Rs 6,067.13 crore. Indo-Tibetan Border Police, tasked with protecting the Sino-Indian border, got an outlay of Rs 4,231.04 crore and Assam Rifles, deployed in Indo-Myanmar border and dealing with insurgents in the Northeast, was allocated Rs 4,363.88 crore.