In its report laid in Parliament on Tuesday, the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) has flagged several irregularities, including fund diversion, in the implementation of the Centre’s flagship programme on agriculture, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), by State Governments from 2007 to 2013.
RKVY was launched in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012) amid declining agricultural growth. This scheme was designed to help the States choose projects on their own for generating agriculture growth of about four per cent. Against an allocation of Rs32,460.45 crore during 2007-08 to 2012-13, Rs30,873.38 crore was released to 28 States and seven Union Territories for RKVY.
However, during audit the CAG found financial management deficient, instances of excess expenditure and inadmissible expenditure. Besides, several States submitted incorrect utilisation certificates (UC) and inflated figures of expenditure. As of September 2013, UCs for an amount of Rs2,610.07 crore were outstanding from 26 States.
CAG said that excess expenditure of Rs106.13 crore without the approval of State-level Sanctioning Committee (SlSC) was noticed in 50 projects in seven States.
Grants of Rs759.03 crore were found parked in personal ledger accounts/ personal deposit accounts/ savings bank account/ fixed deposit account in 11 States, it said.
“In four States, namely Haryana, Maharasthra, Meghalaya and West Bengal, diversion of RKVY funds (Rs114.45 crore) to other schemes/ agency were noticed,” it added. CAG said deficiencies pointed out by the Union Agriculture Ministry in 73 projects proposals of nine States were overlooked by the SlSC.
Out of 4,061 projects sanctioned in 19 sectors including irrigation, seed, animal husbandry, only 2,506 were completed, 1,279 were still under progress, 85 were not implemented, 100 were abandoned and 90 were dropped.