Beautifying Imphal ahead of Sangai Festival : Not a penny available to pay bills
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 17 2014:
Although hectic repairing and beautification works of roads and road medians are going on ahead of the Manipur Sangai Festival, not a single rupee is available in the Government coffer to pay as bills for these works.
According to officials who have been directly monitoring these repairing/beautification works, expenditures for these works are being borne by the contractors themselves.
No sanction orders have been issued for these repairing/beautification works.
These works are being done under informal instructions in order to save the State's face in front of delegates coming from other parts of the country and abroad.
The annual plan outlay of the current financial year is Rs 3200 crore and this figure is tentative.
Again, no one can guarantee that the Government of India would sanction all this amount.
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Generally, annual plan outlays are fixed with an increment of 10 to 20 per cent from the previous year's plan size.
But this year's plan outlay was reduced by Rs 450 crore as compared to the previous year's plan size.
Even though only around four months are left before the current financial year is over, only 30 per cent of the plan outlay has been released by the Centre till date.
In the meantime, the Government of India has abolished the Planning Commission.
As for the bills which the Government should pay for the ongoing repairing/beautification works, the Govt would conduct an assessment after the Sangai Festival.
As per the assessment report, the bills which the Government should pay to contractors would be given from the plan amount.
But there is a technical problem on how the State Government would seek release of the plan amount given the fact that the repairing/construction works were executed without sanction orders.
Even as some sections of people have threatened to block roads leading to popular tourist sites if these dilapidated roads are not repaired ahead of the Sangai Festival, one needs to take into consideration the Government's financial condition.
There is no point in repairing the approach roads leading to popular tourist sites if the much longer roads connecting these places to Imphal are not repaired.
Nonetheless, necessary actions would be taken in accordance with the Government's decision, the officials said.