Hyderabad: The TS government faces the danger of huge funds related to Centrally Sponsored Schemes lapsing in the current financial year. According to rough estimates, these funds total about Rs 3,000 crore. If the state government is not able to spend these funds before March 31, 2017 they will lapse. According to officials, a major portion of these funds belong to the rural development department.
A month before the end of current financial year, the TS government has woken up and found that around Rs 3,000 crore was not released to the departments under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes. Officials said due to non-release of the state government’s share and failure to submit utilisation certificates, many departments did not get funds for the implementation of CSS.
To find out the exact figure, the TS government has asked all departments about the position of funds for CSS in this financial year. As many as 36 schemes come under the centrally sponsored schemes bracket. Funding for these schemes is shared by the Central and state governments, the share ratio differing scheme-wise. For some schemes, the share ratio is 50:50, for others, it’s 60:40.
It is only after submission of utilisation certificates that the Centre releases funds for these schemes. According to officials, the rural development department has to get about Rs 2,000 crore. The state government has to release about Rs 350 crore as its share as input subsidy. In another instance, the Centre has released Rs 400 crore for the housing department, but the state government is unable to utilise these funds as its ambitious 2BHK houses scheme has failed to start.
Officials said that for some schemes, departments have not been able to utilise the funds released by the Centre since the state government has not released its share. During a recent performance review by the state government, many departments informed it that the finance department has not released funds. In some cases, even if the state government does release its share of the funds, it would be almost impossible for the officials to spend them before the financial year ends.
