While the proclaimed thrust of the State Government is to build infrastructure facilities in a big way, a number of departments mandated for infrastructure development are seriously lagging behind.
Chief Secretary GC Pati made stocktaking in this regard at a meeting here on Friday attended by Development Commissioner UN Behera and ACS Finance R Balakrishnan. The concerned officers were warned that if they do not perform, their departments would face funding cuts, revealed a senior officer.
The latest Report on State Plan Expenditure reveals that barring the Department of Works (DoW), almost all other departments are falling in expenditure. The report prepared by the Department of Finance shows the DoW tops the list with spending of Rs 1,160.95 crore, which is 52.21 per cent of the Budget Estimate (BE).
The Department of Rural Development (DoRD) has performed well in comparison to the corresponding period of last year. The DoRD has spent 45.34 per cent of the BE whereas it could spend 30.31 per cent of BE by the end of November 2013. The Department of Energy has failed to reach up to expectation as it has spent only 25.65 per cent, which is a mere Rs 299.30 crore. The department’s spending was far more with 45.71 per cent by the end of November 2013.
The spending by the Department of Housing & Urban Development is at the lowest ebb. It could spend 18.11 per cent of the BE and infrastructure development in the Urban local Bodies (UlB)s turned out to be very poor. By November-end 2013, it had, however, spent 53.62 per cent. The Department of Agriculture has reported a spending level of 54.67 per cent, which is on higher side of its earlier expenditure during the corresponding period.