(a) whether a major share of funds allocated to the North Eastern States remained unspent after each financial year;
(b) if so, the State-wise details of such unspent fund during the last three years and the current year along with the reasons therefor; and
(c) the remedial measures taken/being taken in this regard?
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region
[Dr. Jitendra Singh]
(a) Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region allocates funds to the North Eastern States under its scheme of Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR-State) against specific projects approved by the Ministry. The State Governments in turn transfer these funds to the implementing agencies. Subsequent releases are made based on the utilization certificate furnished by the State Governments as per the provisions of the General Financial Rules. While some projects are implemented in time, the other projects get delayed because funds are not transferred to them in time and the works are hampered due to the short working season.
(b) The cumulative unspent balance, including releases for which Utilization Certificates are not yet due in the current year upto 30.09.2017 and the cumulative unspent balances for the preceding three years is at Annexure.
(c) The guidelines of NLCPR scheme were revised wherein only token amount of Rs.10.00 lakh is released at the time of sanction of the project and the balance amount is released towards the first installment on receipt of the copy of award of work/tender. Subsequent releases are made only after utilization of 80% of the last release and 100% utilization of the amount released preceding the last release. Submission of utilization certificate & transfer of funds to implementing agencies are intensively monitored with State Governments.