Funds evade Nellore Municipality

Nellore: Crores of funds are being earmarked for developmental works in civic bodies through various Government orders but, the release of funds is a mere 10 to 15 per cent. For instance Rs 91 crore worth of funds have been sanctioned to Nellore civic body through GO No 101 dated March 9, 2016 for development works and it was brought down to Rs 36 crore in a revised GO. 

However, the funds released finally amounted to Rs 5.26 crore and the cash starved Nellore corporation was forced to spare Rs 1.50 crore from the general funds to pay for the works. In some cases funds allotted are being lapsed because of the failure of the local bodies to make use of them before the close of financial year. 

One of the reasons for this situation is sanctions being obtained for various works without paying any attention to calculate the time required to execute the works before the end of March to prevent lapse of funds. Moreover, there is no guarantee over reallocation of such funds in the next financial year. This is happening mostly in case the fund allocation is from the state government. There are no issues when the sanction is from the central government. 

According to an official, funds are allotted at the fag end of the financial year with political motives to showcase that the government has sanctioned funds but the civic body fails to utilise them. The Mayor said that it takes 3 months for tenders and it is impossible to use funds sanctioned in March before the end of financial year.