Merely 16% of grant under Nirbhaya Fund spent by agencies

Ministry has approved projects worth nearly Rs 2,200 cr, of which Rs 1,530 cr has been disbursed

A mere 16 per cent of the grant sanctioned by the Women and Child Development Ministry for women's safety and security under the Nirbhaya Fund has been spent by the implementing agencies.

Rs 2,000 crore was transferred to the "Public Account for the Nirbhaya Fund" till 2015-16. For the year 2016-17, another Rs 500 crore was set aside.

The Ministry has approved projects worth nearly Rs 2,200 crore, of which Rs 1,530 crore has been disbursed by it.

However, only Rs 400 crore has been spent on the execution of projects under the Nirbhaya Fund by the agencies, like state governments, which were given this money.

"Eighteen proposals amounting to Rs 2,195.97 crore have been received so far, of which 16 amounting to Rs 2,187.47 crore have been appraised and recommended by the Empowered Committee," a statement issued by the Ministry said.

"The amount allocated to different projects is approximately Rs 1,530 crore and the expenditure incurred is approximately Rs 400 crore," it said.

Though the Nirbhaya Fund was set up in 2013 by the UPA government after the 2012 Delhi gangrape, the statement provided details only of the grant sanctioned and spent in the last two years.

This is because the ministry was made the "nodal ministry" to appraise and monitor the implementation of schemes under the Nirbhaya Fund only in October 2015 after guidelines to this effect were issued.

The poor execution on the ground is despite the fact that an Empowered Committee of Officers was constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, WCD, for approving and monitoring of various schemes under this special fund and has met seven times since it was set up in November 2015.