30 pc of State plan returned
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, April 01, 2013: With the Government of Manipur not able to utilise 30 percent of the plan amount allocated for the financial year 2012-13, more than Rs 650 crore have been refunded to the Centre.

According to reliable source, the State government could utilise only 30 percent of the state plan size till December 31.Worried over the inability to utilise the plan amount, the government had directed all its departments to utilise the allocated plan amount before the end of the financial year.

Still then, the government could utilise only 70 percent of the plan size till March 31. The government even tried to deposit the remaining plan amount in the state account 8449 but failed to stop the 30 percent of plan size from being refunded.

Talking to Hueiyen Lanpao on condition of anonymity, a senior officer of State Finance Department, disclosed the department has sent utilisation certificate for the 70 percent of the plan amount utilized.

The remaining unused 30 percent of the plan amount, which have been subsequent refunded, was meant for centrally sponsored schemes for public welfare.

The officer further disclosed that the present financial position of the state government is very precarious and there is even suspicion whether the government is still in a condition to run the state.

Plan sizes for financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11 were utilized fully.

However, the state government has been unable to utilise allocated plan amount for the last two financial years.

The Government of Manipur and the Planning Commission have agreed to finalise the State plan size at Rs 3500 crore for the financial year 2012-13.However, the plan size was subsequently reduced to Rs 2653.23 crore since India was also facing financial problems.

Unfortunately, the government could not fully utilise the amount and an amount of Rs 650 core has been refunded which is not a good signal for the state government just before finalization of the plan amount for the next fiscal year.

For the fiscal year 2013-14, the state government is project to demand a plan size of Rs 4200 crore.

However, now there is high possibility that the Centre would be approving the same plan amount of previous year, the officer added.

The officer further disclosed that the Planning Commission has introduced a new system of checking utilisation of the allocated plan amount.

As per the new system, each Ministry will check the utilisation of the plan amount sanctioned by it.

The Planning Commission will revise the report of the Ministry before fianlisation and approval of the plan sizes.

The plan size will increase only if the income is greater than the expenditure.

However, in case of Manipur, the state income is far lesser than the expenditure.

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