A delay and a last minute rush to submit work bills on the last day of the financial year has led to a fund amounting to over Rs 64 crore to lapse. The fund was meant to be used for the construction of roads in tribal areas to be undertaken by the Tribal Development Department.
The Tribal Development Department on March 31 issued bills worth Rs 439.99 crore meant to construct roads and bridges in tribal dominated areas of the state. According to sources, funds worth Rs 45 crore in Thane district, Rs 1 crore in Ahilyanagar, Rs 13 crore in Nagpur and Rs 3 crore in Gadchiroli lapsed. According to procedure, the fund from the department is distributed to the Tribal commissioner and from there it is sent to districts based on the estimates sanctioned.
The district officials are supposed to submit the sanctioned work bills to the government’s online system before the end of the financial year. Failing to submit these bills would mean the funds would lapse, thereby affecting the allotment of funds for the next financial year. As a result, officials rush to complete the process before 12am on March 31 by submitting bills of the sanctioned works. Based on the expenditure of the department concerned in a particular fiscal, the allotment of money in the next financial year is decided.
On March 31, the delay in finalising the list of work from the department led to a rush in the last three hours at the district level. “Since these works are of a very small amount, starting from Rs 3 lakh, it led to a large number of bills being uploaded. It slowed down the process and bills worth Rs 65 crore could not be uploaded in time before the end of the financial year,” an official confirmed.
Successive Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on state finances have highlighted the rush in expenditure during the last quarter by various state departments. ,” State Finances Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended 31 March 2023 had observed that “huge expenditure in the last month of the financial year is inconsistent with prudent financial management and indicates a weak internal control system and lack of budgetary control/management”.
When contacted, a senior official from the department accepted that the certain amount of funds lapsed. “But it has gone back to the state treasury only and there is no loss to the exchequer. We will avoid such things in the future and bring more funds,” the official added.
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