The Opposition Congress has turned the heat on the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Orissa which has of late mounted its offensive on the Centre for alleged neglect of the state's interests and inadequate flow of funds.
Blaming the state government of under utilization of funds given by the Government of India for flagship programmes and declining share of the state plan in Total Plan, the Opposition Congress has stated that the lack of political will and non-transparent administration has resulted in inefficient planning and implementation of development programmes.
Addressing media persons here, Naba Kishore Das, general secretary of the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) said, “The state government is needlessly shedding crocodile tears and complaining of inadequate flow of Central funds. The fact remains that the BJD government has failed to utilize the Central funds meant for various flagship programmes. Utilization certificate of Rs 4323.08 crore is pending with the state government and this exposes the hollowness of the government.”
Refuting the state government's claims of Centre's negligence for the Plan schemes in the state, Das said, “The Central plan and Centrally sponsored plan funds together show an increasing trend over the years while the share of the State plan has been on the decline. During 2001-02, the share of the State plan to the Total Plan was 84.5 per cent which has come down to 77.5 per cent in 2010-11. On the other hand, the share of Central plan and Centrally sponsored together was 15.5 per cent, which was gone up to 22.5 per cent during the same period.”
As per a report compiled by Das, under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Centre had released Rs 1102.7 crore while the state’s share was Rs 100 crore, meaning a total release of Rs 1202.7 crore. But the expenditure has been Rs 715.87 crore which is 41.53 per cent of the total available fund during the year.
Similarly, the expenditure under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2009-10 was Rs 464.7 crore out of the available fund of Rs 551.39 crore. It may be noted that the percentage of expenditure by the state government under NRHM was 10 per cent in 2005-06, six per cent in 2006-07, 36 per cent in 2007-08 and 18 per cent in 2008-09.
Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), the expenditure incurred by the state was Rs 1053.71 crore as against an available fund of Rs 1312.50 crore.
More From This Section
As far as submission of utilization certificate (UC) is concerned, the UC for 94 per cent of the Central assistance (Rs 425.89 crore) for the SC & ST Development department has not been submitted by the state government during 2009-10.
Similarly, UC for 100 per cent of the Central assistance under Central assistance under Central plan is pending with the department of school & mass education, says the report.
The report states that Orissa has been extremely poor in mobilizing its own revenue sources over the years.
The annual average growth rate of the state's own revenue during 2004-05 to 2009-10 is 14.07 per cent whereas the growth rate for Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand is 21.83 per cent and 20.83 per cent respectively during the same period.