| By all accounts, the low utilisation of the funds for capex will affect the size of the plan outlay for the next fiscal. |
| According to established practices in UP, as much as 30 per cent of the funds for the capital works are released by the state government in the last month of the fiscal. It will not be possible this year due to the enforcement of the model code of conduct. |
| According to the data available on the official website of the state's finance department as much as Rs 4,000 crore was withdrawn and shown 'utilised' during the last fiscal ending of March 31, 2006. |
| The funds as per the established practice were transferred to the Public Ledger Account (PLA) of different government departments in March 2006. The size of the annual plan for 2006-07 was Rs 18,000 crore. The election commission has specifically banned the release of funds for the welfare schemes after the enforcement of the code. |
| The size of the annual plan for the current fiscal is Rs 24,641 crore. Against this plan outlay the utilisation till the end of January 2007 was Rs 14,800 crore. |
| However, it will be relevant to mention here that the restrictions on 'utilisation' of funds for development works at the end of the fiscal will result in saving of several thousand crore of public money. |
| Officially the state government has issued no orders banning the release of the financial sanctions but after the visit of the chief election commissioner in February, the message has gone down that the elections commission is watching. |
| The terror of the elections commission is so pervasive that the bureaucrats in state secretariat were wary of issuing any financial sanctions after the announcement of the poll schedule on February 21. The sanctions which are still being issued are in backdate of February 19 and 20. |
| The officials were even defying the dictates of the political bosses for the release of funds. In many districts, the district magistrates, have issued orders to the district treasury officer not to entertain any Bill except the payment of the salary and pension. |
| Even the payment of the "Unemployment scheme" has been stopped in several districts. Against the provision of Rs 450 crore for the allowance only Rs 200 crore has been distributed among the unemployed youths across the state till the end of January. |
| The discomfiture of the Samajwadi Party was evident from the submission made by the party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, before the CEC, N Gopalaswamy, recently that no restrictions be placed on the funding of the on going schemes for the sake of model of conduct. |
| State's chief electoral officer AK Bishnoi said he had received a representation from the finance department seeking approval for the release of grants for the ongoing schemes. |
| He added that he has sought the opinion and direction from the Election Commission. |
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