Government releases lesser funds than budgeted for some schemes

NEW DELHI: The government released lesser funds than provided in the budget for some flagship schemes including rural job guarantee and Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan, Parliament was informed today.

"...some schemes namely MGNREGA, NHM, NBA, PMGSY, AIBP, IWMP, SSA, MDM, RKVY, IAY, NRLM and JNNURM have lower expenditures as compared to budgetary provisions," Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

However, the minister informed the house that in some schemes like ICDS, NSAP, BGRF, RGPSY and NRDWP, expenditures exceeded the budgetary outlays necessitating additional fund at the revised estimate (RE) stage.

According to the minister, the release of central assistance for 17 flagship schemes in the last three fiscals (till 2013-14) has been 90 per cent, 77 per cent, 76 per cent respectively of the budgetary provisions.

The information provided to the House revealed that under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), the government released Rs 4,630 crore which was 36 per cent of budgeted expenditure of Rs 12,962 crore for 2013-14.

Similarly, under the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWSP), the government released Rs 2,181.31 crore, 40 per cent of the budgetary provision of Rs 5,387 crore for the previous fiscal.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is another scheme for which the government released 9,804.98 crore that constitutes 45 per cent of the budgetary provision of Rs 21,700 crore for 2013-14.

Under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan (NBA), the government released Rs 2,073.68 crore which was 49 per cent of Rs 4,260 crore provided in 2013 budget.

However, the government during 2013-14 released Rs 629.58 crore under the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Shashaktikaran Yojana, 155 per cent more than Rs 406.80 crore provided in the budget.

Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) is another programme where the government released Rs 16,232.86 crore which was 102 per cent of budgetary provision of Rs 15,912 crore.