State issues notifications for spending 75 per cent unutilised funds under 15th Finance Commission

Kolkata: The Panchayats and Rural Development (P&RD) department has issued directions for spending 75 per cent of the unutilised funds in connection with the 15th Finance Commission (FC) by August 15. The tender in connection with the associated projects should be finalised within 15 days.

The directions were given out at a meeting held at Sarat Sadan in Howrah that was chaired by senior officials of the P&RD department.

As per 15th FC, the Centre has allocated Rs 3,123 crore for Bengal but till July 2nd, 27 per cent of the funds were spent. The long process of Lok Sabha elections spanning over nearly three months was the primary reason for the slow pace of work. About 103 blocks in the state are lagging behind in fund utilisation. These blocks were asked to spend 75 per cent of unutilised funds.

The department has identified poor understanding about tendering and has decided to provide special training in this regard. The department has also observed poor scheme selection and advocated review and dropping of unwanted and time consuming schemes.

It was found that there is a knowledge gap regarding e-Gram swaraj portal and there needs to be another round of training to bridge the gap.

The West Bengal State Rural Development Agency (WBSRDA) has been requested to make and identify major schemes to be implemented under 15th FC with the standard operating procedure on technical parameters to be monitored by BDO.

The zilla parishad gets a certain amount of funds under 15th FC which is required for works like setting up of tubewells, making and mending of rural roads and similar infrastructural work. If the first installment of such funds remain unutilised then there may be complications with getting funds for the second installment.