Unspent funds swell for PM Narendra Modi's 6 pet projects; Parliamentary Standing Committee expresses concern

Six pet projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi haven't progressed on expected lines, with their average fund utilisation standing at 21.6 per cent. The Smart City initiative seems to be moving at a snail's pace where 1.83 per cent of the allocated money has been used so far.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee has expressed concern over the under-utilisation of central funds in these projects of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. According to its report, 99 cities have been selected under the Smart City Mission as on March. Of the released amount of Rs 9,943.22 crore, only Rs 182.62 crore has been spent. The committee has asked MoHUA to "get its act together".

The flagship programmes are Smart City Mission (SCM), Urban Livelihood Mission (ULM), Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY-Urban), Swachh Bharat Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY).

As per the data of MoHUA, only Rs 7,850.72 crore was spent out of Rs 36,194.39 crore released so far which makes to 21.6 percent.

The ministry claimed that there are 2,948 projects worth Rs 1,38,730 crore in various stages of implementation. A total 189 projects worth Rs 2,237 crore have been completed, and implementation is underway for 495 projects with a cost of Rs 18,616 crore. It further pointed out that tenders have been floated for 277 projects with a cost of Rs 15,885 crore and detailed projects report for 1,987 projects worth Rs 1,01,992 crore is being made.

The project cost of each smart city proposal will vary depending upon the level of ambition, model and capacity to execute and repay.

The committee has asked the ministry to expedite use of funds on war footing including the brittle financial health of most of the municipal bodies in undertaking Centre's Flagship schemes.

In the case of projects related to AMRUT, a huge share of Rs 12447.19 crore has been allocated to scheme meant to provide for water supply, sewerage and drainage facilities to selected 500 cities. Interestingly, only Rs 2,480.43 crore was used which is 27.74 percent out of Rs 12,447.19 crore.

Under Swachh Bharat Mission, a total fund of Rs 5,847.92 crore was released and out of these, 38.01 percent that is Rs 2,223.22 crore has been used under various projects.

In case of PMAY-Urban, the States have spent Rs 2,080.52 crore which is only 20.78 percent of the funds released. PMAY was launched in June 2015. The Modi government envisages building affordable pucca houses with water facility, sanitation and electricity supply round-the-clock. The scheme has recently been expanded its scope to cater to the housing needs of the mid-income group, besides the economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income group (LIG).

Under the HRIDAY, so far, 63 projects amounting to Rs. 421.47 crore for the 12 HRIDAY Cities have been approved. Of these, Rs 241.26 crore has been released.

"The committee are unhappy about the actual scenario with respect to the flagship programmes of the government and the trend of central funds not being utilised. They are apprehensive that, at this pace, the realisation of almost all the above well meaning missions will remain a distant dream in reality," the report said.

The further noted that it is seen that in 2018-19, against a proposal of Rs. 86,099.97 crore, only Rs 41,765.13 crore was granted that is 48.50 percent whereas it was 43.73 percent in 2017-18. "The committee also failed to understand how the ministry would be able to achieve the targets with less than 50 percent of the allocation sought by them for the same. They also feel that ,may be, the ministry have not made realistic projections or proper planning," the report said.

Swachh mission

• Under Swachh Bharat Mission, Rs 5,847.92 crore was released and out of these, 38.01% that is Rs 2,223.22 crore has been used under various projects.