Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The spending of budgetary allocations by some departments in the state is not up to the mark in the first three quarters of the current financial year. This is despite the standing guidelines for quarter-wise spending of funds for the departments to follow.
According to official sources, the outlay of the 2024-25 budget was Rs 1.43 lakh crore, and around Rs 81,000 crore has been spent by various departments. According to the standing guidelines, the departments should have spent around Rs 1 lakh crore in these three quarters. According to financial guidelines, the percentages of funds to be spent in the four quarters of a financial year are - 20 percent in the first quarter, 30 percent each in the second and the third quarter and 20 percent in the fourth quarter.
According to sources, while some departments like PWD, Health, Water Resources, etc. have been spending their budgetary allocations rapidly, some departments have been slow paddling in the spending of funds. This has led to around 52 percent of the spending of budgetary allocations on average in the current financial year in the state.
Around 20 percent of funds have been spent in the Hill Area Development head, 27 percent in the Soil and Water Conservation head, 19 percent in the Industries and Commerce head, 21 percent in Social Justice and Empowerment, 14 percent in state housing, 32 percent in water supply and sewerage, etc.
According to sources, the guidelines for quarterly spending of budgetary funds were introduced to do away with the practice of spending budgetary allocations at a breakneck speed at the fag end of the financial year as seen in the past, leaving a whole lot of chances for financial irregularities.
According to sources, the total expenditures of budgetary allocations in the state in the past were around 40-50 percent. However, in the past few years, the percentage of spending of budgetary allocations has been increased constantly. In the financial year 2023-24, the government was successful in spending 85 percent of budgetary allocations.
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