‘Over Rs 2,286-cr agri scheme funds unutilised, diverted’

Nearly Rs 2286.53 crores of funds meant for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) were unutilised and diverted as per the CAG report placed before the Parliament on Tuesday. The national auditor also expressed concern over the irregularities in the schemes and unprofessional planning during its implementation.

“Out of the 393 projects selected in 19 sectors of the RKVY for audit examination, cases of underperformance and irregularities were noticed in 150 projects, which is nearly 38 per cent with a volume of Rs 2286.53 etc,” CAG sources said.

Against an allocation of Rs 32,460.45 crore during 2007-08 to 2012-13, an amount of Rs 30,873.38 crore was released to 28 states and seven Union Territories, out of which only Rs 28,083 crore could be spent.

As per Agriculture Ministry data, Rs 30,494.50 crore was released during the same period from an allocation of Rs. 31,732.06 crore. Total expenditure was pegged at Rs 27,938.52 crore. “A comparison of figures reported by the Ministry and those by the sates revealed the states reported excess receipt of grant by Rs 4,289.20 crore during the review period. Similarly, the states reported expenditure of Rs 31,916.53 crore, resulting in a difference of Rs 3,978.01 crore. The Ministry did not take any steps to reconcile the figures,” CAG report reads.

“Thus, the integrity of data was questionable, the Ministry replied (July 2014) that States’ reporting of excess receipt appears to be a clerical mistake,” it added.

Several instances of delays of up to 23 months in the release of funds at various levels in at least 20 states, was also noticed. Some states, including Assam, Gujarat, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal had reported excess expenditure of Rs. 466.53. Jharkhand, Odisha and Tripura reported short expenditure of Rs. 197.59 crore.

In some sectors, submission of incorrect utilisation certificates (UCs) by the states were found. “Figures obtained, from the Ministry indicated that UCs for an amount of Rs 2,610.07 crore were wanting for the period 2008-09 to 2012-13 from 26 states (except Nagaland) as of September 2013,” said the report.

Not the least, grants of Rs 759.03 crore instead of being used for the intended purposes of RKVY were rather found parked in personal ledger accounts, personal deposits accounts and savings bank account in 11 states. “Similarly, diversion of RKVY grants of Rs 114.45 crore for other purposes was also observed,” it says.