Major policy initiatives did not take off: CAG

Chennai: A CAG report tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday said budget speeches, major state policies and announcements made in the House were not being implemented in letter and spirit.

The report in detail pointed out that funds to the tune of over Rs 3,000 crore were either not utilised/ surrendered or withdrawn through re-appropriation due to non-implementation of several infrastructure projects.

Tamil Nadu which had maintained revenue surplus during 2011 to 2013 had gone into a deficit during 2014 and had failed to achieve the target prescribed in the Tamil Nadu Fiscal Responsibility Act, the CAG in its audit said adding the revenue deficit and fiscal deficit were understated.

“In the budget speech 2012-13, a legislation was proposed to be introduced to form Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Board for implementing new projects in line with the vision document 2023 which envisages substantial investment in key infrastructure projects. Accordingly,  an initial provision of Rs 1,000 crore was made in the budget for creation of board, but no expenditure was incurred and the entire fund was withdrawn,” the report said.

“Similarly, an amount of Rs 2,000 crore was provided for creation of new urban infrastructure development fund, but the fund was not utilised. In 2013-14, Rs 200 crore was set aside for urban poverty alleviation but not utilised. And another Rs 100 crore was to be transferred to environment protection fund for laying roads using plastic waste but this amount was not transferred for project execution. Thus, several major policy initiatives did not take off,” the report said exposing the state’s policies.

The report mentioned  administrative lapses and points that test check of records relating to commercial taxes, state excise, motor vehicles tax, stamp duty, electricity tax, tax from mining and minerals during 2013-14 revealed under assessments leading to a revenue loss of Rs 1,088 crore in 3,230 cases.  In mining and geology, coordination was not established between geology and other government departments, the report said.