Minority wing sits on welfare funds

Hyderabad: Around Rs 20 crore is lying unutilised with the AP State Minority Finance Corporation (APSMFC) as the authorities failed to implement welfare programmes intended for upliftment of minorities across the state.

An internal audit of the accounts of the corporation for the financial years 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11,and 2011-12 revealed that more than Rs 20 crore are lying idle. The auditors pointed out that the money remained unspent and unremitted into government account though the schemes were no longer operational.

The team of auditors found that the corporation authorities have failed to furnish details for Rs 12-Rs 13 crore that are lying unspent under the Post Metric Scholarship Scheme.

The corporation received Rs 7.14 crore from the government between 2007 to 2010, under the micro credit scheme to Self Help Groups. The corporation had spent Rs 1.34 crore and the balance was lying unutilised from financial year 2007-08. The scheme became defunct from 2010 as no budget was released to the corporation.

However, the funds are still lying with it. The auditors were surprised that the corporation authorities failed to produce utilisation certificates for the expenditure of Rs 1.26 crore under the scheme.
They have noted that out of the total expenditure of Rs 1.34 crore, the corporation has produced utilisation certificates for just Rs 8 lakh.

The internal auditors team has also found that the state government had released Rs 3.61 crore to the APSMFC under the scheme for Development of Muslim Women in Urban Areas (DOMWUA) from 2007 to 2010 and the scheme was operational from financial year 2010-11. The corporation had Rs 1.76 crore unspent with it under the DOMWUA.

The state government had introduced a scheme in 2008 to provide financial assistance for mass marriages of Muslims who are below poverty line and initially the scheme was implemented by the AP Wakf Board. Later, the scheme was transferred to the corporation in 2011 and Rs 1.47 crore were transferred to it for implementation of the scheme.

Till date, there was more than Rs 1.25 crore unspent with the APSMFC. Sources close to the management of the corporation’s affairs pointed out that there was no record available with regard to the interest generated on the unspent money.