A parliamentary panel has rapped the Coal Ministry for utilising only 25 per cent of the funds allotted to it for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-11) period.
It has also cast apprehension about the ministry's ability to spend the remaining amount by March 2011.
The ministry has utilised only Rs 9,198.86 crore out of a total allocation of Rs 37,100 crore for the 11th Five Year Plan in the first two years, which accounts for only 24.79 per cent of the approved outlay.
"...The Committee is apprehensive whether the 75 per cent of the remaining earmarked funds would be spent during the remaining period of the Plan," the parliamentary panel said.
In its report tabled in Parliament recently, the Standing Committee on Coal and Steel said, "...About 40 per cent of the allotted funds should have been utilised during this period (first two years of the Plan)."
Asking the ministry to review the implementation of the schemes and prioritise projects, it said "The bottlenecks identified in this connection should be removed expeditiously by taking appropriate steps."
Seeking a report on the mid-term appraisal, the Committee pointed out that though the ministry had grossly underutilised funds it had sought Rs 43,476.37 crore for the Coal and Lignite Sector for the 11th Plan period, while the Planning Commission had approved only Rs 37,100 crore.
The Committee also rejected the reasons cited by the ministry for the underutilisation such as problems in land acquisition, rehabilitation, settlement and forest and environmental clearances faced by public sector undertakings in the coal sector.
It said the problems faced were "mainly administrative in nature and could have been resolved by proper planning, anticipation and expected standard discharge of function of the higher officers of the PSUs".
