Fincial crunch, desperate measures

Departments told to surrender undrawn funds

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Oct 8: Grappling with an unprecedented fincial crisis, the Assam government has now asked the administrative departments to “surrender” the undrawn funds to the government by February 15.

In a circular to all the department heads, the Commissioner & Secretary (Fince) said that the “undrawn amounts as on February 15 (2016) will be deemed to have been surrendered and the Fince department in consultation with the Planning & Development department will reallocate the amounts to other departments.”

In other words, the departments will have to utilize the funds allocated for various schemes by January.

In case any department fails to utilize the amounts, the funds will be re-allocated to other departments. The schemes will then automatically lapse. Now, it is anybody’s guess as to how the departments which get the reallocated funds will be able to spend it in one and half month’s time.

The circular has sent the departments into a tizzy, as it has left very little time for them to execute the schemes.

Earlier, the Fince department had asked the departments to withdraw the funds in the revenue deposits and transfer these to the State exchequer.

A number of projects and schemes are awaiting sanction from the government. In those cases where sanctions were given, the ceilings against the bills are not being issued.

The developmental works in the departments have virtually come to a standstill.