Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi refuting the claims of the State Finance Audit Report for 2020-21 of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (C&AG) that the state government delayed submission of the utilisation certificate of Rs 2,29,099 crore since 2002-03 to 2020-21.
On Friday, the Chief Minister wrote to PM Modi that on scrutinising the observations of the C&AG, it was found that “the concerned Departments of the State Government had submitted Utilisation Certificates on time to the respective Ministries of the Government of India in the prescribed format against the allocations/sanctions made under different schemes by Government of India”.
She highlighted that the fund sanction orders issued by various Ministries of the Government of India clearly stated that “there are no pending Utilisation Certificates of the preceding period”. “Hence, it is really shocking to note that the high office of reputed Constitutional institution like the C&AG could make such observations which are incorrect and have been made without application of due diligence and examination of the procedures for submission Of Utilisätion Certificates as per Government of India guidelines,” she wrote, adding that the state can send copies of all such certificates to Prime Minister Office for his perusal.
The chief minister also reminded the PM that following their meeting on December 20, 2023, as decided, another meeting was held at the secretary level on January 23, 2024 where all the issues were discussed and resolved but the “issue relating to utilisation certificate was not even raised by officers from the Government of India in the meeting”.
Banerjee wrote: “Considering the seriousness and gravity of this matter. I would request your kind intervention and ensure that the funds legitimately due to the State Of West Bengal, are immediately released in the interest Of the poor people of the State. The State should not be deprived of its share of funds due to such unfounded and false premises.”