Govt reviews fund allocation pattern in Northeast

Government on Tuesday said the Ministry of DoNER is seriously reviewing the pattern and process of utilisation of funds allocated for development in North Eastern Region.

Union Minister for DoNER Jitendra Singh said there are a number of factors responsible for inadequate utilisation of the allocated funds available.

"In addition to the need to increase the amount of allocated funds, there is also an urgent need to overcome the factors responsible for inadequate utilisation of allocated or available funds", he said in an interactive programme organised by the 'Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region' (FINER).

Singh said very often the funds are not released because the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the new projects is not available on time and as a result of this, funds get lapsed, the projects get delayed and the total cost of the project also gets escalated.

Secondly, the Minister said, sometimes after the release of the first initial instalment of funds, the subsequent grants do not get released because of the failure of the state governments to furnish Utilisation Certificates (UCs) on time.

"To overcome these delays the Ministry has worked out a number of new methods including on-line submission of DPRs and UCs as well as involvement of the Delhi based Resident Commissioners for follow up of the projects of their respective States," he said.