Naveen pulls up departments for delay in UC submission

Peeved over the inordinate delay in submission of Utilization Certificates (UCs) for Central assistance by different government departments, the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today directed the departments to submit UCs for 2009-10 by June and that of 2010-11 by September this year.

The directive was given by the Chief Minister after a high-level review meeting held today at the state secretariat. It was also decided at the meeting that all departmental secretaries would review the status of submission of UCs every month.

The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India in its latest report on state finances for the year ended March 31 this year had pulled up the state government for the delay in submission of UCs.

It may be noted that UC for Central assistance up to Rs 4,564 crore received for 2009-10 was yet to be submitted by the state government till January this year.

The highest pending amount was that of the department of women & child development department at Rs 1,131.18 crore followed by Panchayati Raj department at Rs 969.83 crore.

For the Panchayati Raj department, the UC of Rs 75.49 crore was pending under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Rs 119.30 crore under Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), Rs 230.61 crore under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), and Rs 200.40 crore under the Backward Region Grants Fund (BRGF) for 2009-10.

Other defaulting departments are SC & ST Development department (Rs 556.38 crore), Urban Development (Rs 406.68 crore), Water Resources (Rs 215.90 crore) and Rural Development (Rs 175.68 crore).