Parliamentary panel criticises fisheries ministry for fund underutilisation

A Parliamentary panel on Tuesday criticised the fisheries ministry for under-utilisation of funds allocated in the Budget and asked it to address the issue.

"...the reasons for under-utilisation continue to remain the same," the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing said in its third report submitted to Parliament.

The under-utilisation of funds continues even after more than three years of putting in place a new financial system by the Ministry of Finance, it said.

The committee recommended the Department of Fisheries make "serious efforts" and "proactively liaise" with state governments and state fisheries departments to address this issue for positive results.

The committee noted that targeted and effective implementation of the department's schemes becomes imperative for the socio-economic upliftment of the fishermen in general and traditional fishermen in particular.

"It, therefore, becomes all the more necessary that the Budget allocation for various schemes of the Department is utilised in full," the report added.

The committee observed that the actual expenditure under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme component of the department showed a declining trend from 2021-22 onwards vis-a-vis the revised estimates.

The panel expressed concern that repeated under-utilisation of the amounts allocated even at the Revised Estimates (RE) stage, year after year, shows a lack of proper planning, assessment of the fund requirement and failure to take into account ground realities while making proposals for fund requirements even at RE stage.