Dispur scrambles to account for Rs 13,500 cr

Deadline approaching to submit UCs for Central funds

AREAS OF CONCERN

*    UCs amounting to Rs 12,000 crore are yet to be submitted to the Central government.

*    DC Bills amounting to Rs 1,500 crore up to March 2013-14 are yet to be regsubmitted by the departments.

*    Non reconciliation of lapsed challans worth Rs 654 crore by various administrative departments.

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, February 27: With the Tarun Gogoi government under intense pressure by the Centre to submit all pending utilization certificates (UCs) against funds released for various Central schemes, Dispur is scrambling to submit thousands of crores worth UCs and Bills within New Delhi’s deadline. 

A flurry of activities has begun in all the State departments, with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, also holding the Fince portfolio, getting ready to table the 2015-16 State budget on March 10 in the Assembly.

Besides the UC issue, the non-conversion of Abstract Contingent (AC) Bills amounting to crores of rupees into Detailed Contingent (DC) Bills, has also become a headache for most of the departments.

According to the State Principal Accountant General (PAG), UCs amounting to Rs 12,000 crore up to March 2013-14 are yet to be submitted to the Central government by State departments and DC Bills amounting to Rs 1,500 crore up to March 2013-14 are yet to be regularized by the departments.

To discuss all these issues, a meeting was held on Friday at Dispur, in which State Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla, Accountant General (Audit) CH Kharsing and heads of all the departments took part.

In the meeting, the Chief Secretary told all departmental heads that the Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO) of a department concerned will be made responsible for non-submission of UC on time and action will be taken against that particular DDO.  As per present rules, all the State government departments submit their UCs directly to the Central government. But in Friday’s meeting, the departmental heads were told by the Chief Secretary that the PAG should also be intimidated by the departments on UCs before submitting the same to the Central government.

In the meeting, it was revealed that about 300 cases relating to misappropriation, defalcation and loss to government are pending with the PAG. “The Chief Secretary has asked all the departments to enquire into these pending cases and submit reports accordingly,” sources added.

It was also told in the meeting that objections raised by the PAG on the departments’ fincial activities must be addressed through due consultation with the State government.

Sources further stated that the Fince Department will not sanction funds to the departments further, if UCs are not submitted in time by them.