Gujarat government left over Rs 15,000 crore funds unspent

AHMEDABAD (INDIA):The Gujarat government did not spend Rs 15,114.51 crore budgetary provisions, which is 28.5 per cent of the total Rs 53,041.05 crore provisions last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report.nnThe CAG report on the state finances for the year ended March 2016 was tabled in the Gujarat Assembly yesterday.nnThe report said the amount remained unspent either due to “non-implementation” or “slow implementation of schemes/ programmes.”nnThe CAG said that substantial surrenders, in which over 50 per cent provisions or more than Rs one crore remained unspent, were made under 95 different heads.nn”Substantial surrenders were made due to either non-implementation or slow implementation of schemes/ programmes. Of the total provisions amounting to Rs 53,041.05 crore, Rs 15,114.51 crore (28.5 per cent) were surrendered, which included cent per cent surrender in 254 cases (Rs 5,107.86 crore),” it said.nnSome of the schemes in which the entire funds remained unspent were Slum Free City Planning Scheme under Rajiv Awas Yojana, scheme for construction of police buildings, operation and maintenance of major and medium irrigation schemes, strengthening of seed testing laboratory and distribution of sugar to BPL and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families, among others, the CAG said.nnSome of the reasons behind the surrender of amounts were non-finalisation of projects, non-release or less release of grants by the Centre, non-receipt of the central share, de-linking of the scheme by the Centre, among others, it said.nnSource: Press Trust of India