Around 50 per cent of total funds of Rs61.16 crore released under State plan on various projects for Dehradun district have remained unspent by February 2015, it is learnt. With the new financial year approaching nearer, the officers of various departments in Dehradun district are a worried lot. They are now busy in quantifying utilisation of the received funds under State plan and also in sending received proposals on the left-out funds through their officials to the department concerned.
They said they are doing everything to ensure the funds are optimally utilised. However, things do not look rosy, given the track-records of the department officials. There is a possibility that a major chunk of the funds till now unspent would go unspent. The officers of various departments who are now busy in collecting proposals and working on approvals said that they are working hard to optimally utilise released funds on development projects so that it does not lapse.
The State Government released Rs74.61 crore under State plan for Dehradun on various projects while Dehradun District Magistrate released Rs61.16 crore after receiving proposals from the District Planning Committee. Out of Rs61.16 crore released from the DM’s end, around Rs31.04 crore (50.75 per cent) has been spent on various projects by February. This was revealed in a report received from the department of economic and statistics.
District economic and statistics officer BS Parmar said that the first DPC meeting was held on December 29 and projects were not approved. The second meeting of DPC was held on January 19. Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli and District Planning Committee chairperson Chaman Singh had selected and approved several proposals. The departments received such proposals by February 27.
Reports revealed that under road and bridge scheme, the State Government had released Rs14.20 crore and Rs7.10 crore was spent. Rs9.20 crore was released for Jal Nigam but Rs4.88 crore was spent. Rs7 crore was released for Jal Sansthan but Rs3.94 crore was spent. Rs1.43 crore was released for private minor irrigation but Rs52.52 lakh was spent. Rs8.50 lakh was released for social welfare and no fund was spent. Rs1.9895 crore was released for animal husbandry but Rs1.9888 crore was spent. Rs24 lakh was released under sugar development but Rs7.7 lakh was spent. Rs2 crore was released for secondary education and Rs43 lakh was spent, it is learnt.