Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) is worried over the low expenditure on the northeastern state by some of the ministries and departments of the Central Government.
As many as 54 ministries and departments of the central government are mandated to spend at least ten percent of their gross budgetary allocations. These 54 ministries and departments of the central government have been tagged as ‘non-exempted’ ones. On January 27, 2025, DoNER had a meeting to review the ‘ten percent of gross budgetary support (GBS) to the northeastern region.’ The DoNER Ministry expressed certain concerns over the underutilisation of budgetary allocations by some of the non-exempted ministries and departments of the central government.
An office memorandum of the DoNER issued on February 13, 2025, said, “On January 27, 2025, a quarterly meeting was held under the chairmanship of Minister of State (MOS), DoNER, to review the pace of expenditure under the 10% GBS allocation for 54 non-exempted ministries/departments. At the end of Q III, the overall expenditure against the mandatory allocation is 59.68% of the RE (revised estimate) for FY 2024-25. Certain concerns remain about ministries having large allocations and low expenditures. The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has made an expenditure of only Rs. 2213 crore (16.18%) against RE of Rs. 13675.2 crore, and the Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways has made an expenditure of Rs. 9213.31 crore (47.38%) against RE of Rs. 19445 crore.”
The office memorandum further said that the meetings of the Empowered Inter-Ministerial Committee (EIMC) of NESIDS (OTRI) and NESIDS (Roads) Schemes were held on January 21, 2025. Under the NESIDS (OTRI) Scheme, three projects costing Rs 101.31 crore were accorded in-principal approval. Under the NESIDS (Roads) Scheme, the DPRs of three projects costing Rs 100.36 crore were approved for the northeastern region. Also, a meeting of the EIMC of the PM-DevINE Scheme was held on January 28, 2025, wherein ‘the establishment of a regional campus of the India Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) for Rs. 100.95 crore was’ recommended for approval.
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