Opp Cong alleges financial mismanagement by Nagaland govt

Government yet to submit Utilisation Certificate of Rs 700 crore of Rs 2000-crore plan money allocated for 2012-13 by the Centr

Nagaland is facing a precarious financial situation because of mismanagement of finances by the state government, opposition Congress today alleged.

"The Naga People's Front (NPF)-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government is yet to submit Utilisation Certificate of Rs 700 crore out of Rs 2000 crore plan money allocated for 2012-13 by the Centre," Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) said in a statement here.

"On May 17 and September 17 this year false Utilisation Certificates produced by the DAN government were not accepted by Union government," it alleged.

The state government in its desperate attempt to tide over the financial crisis had resorted to overdraft of Rs 682.88 crore in addition to Ways and Means advances of Rs 1485.86 crore during 2012-13, it said.

"Though these actions can be taken within permissible limits, yet it only necessitated as a last resort by any government faced with dire financial situation," it said.

It was alleged that the state budget for 2013-14 had become unmanageable with the DAN government diverting money from various Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) to meet the salary expenditure of over 1.20 lakh state government employees.

In another few months time CSS fund would run out since the departments would not be getting the next instalments owing to inability to produce Utilisation Certificates, the NPCC said.