Hudco Funds In Bihar Unutilised

Although the Bihar government constantly laments the paucity of finance for developmental work, it failed to fully utilise the funds allotted to it by the Housing and Urban Development Corp (Hudco) for this financial year.

According to Hudco sources, the corporation had promised to provide upto Rs 46 crore as financial aid in 1996-97 for the completion of various housing schemes. However, it could release only Rs 13.33 till end-December 1996 due to the lack of proposals for new schemes. There is no dearth of money, but the state government should come out with proposals, said a senior Hudco official.

 

According to the sources, even Rs 46 crore is on the lower side for a big state like Bihar. They pointed out that the Tamil Nadu government had used over Rs 112 crore by the end of December 1996 and would probably exceed the target of Rs 150 crore allocated to it by the corporation for fiscal 1996. Similarly, even a small state like Kerala had utilised about Rs 56 crore by the end of December.

The sources revealed that the utilisation of the corporations pledged loans was likely to be increased in Orissa and West Bengal during the first quarter of 1997 since the corporation had received a large number of schemes for implementation. But in the case of Bihar, the number of schemes under consideration was far less than those submitted by other states. For example, while as many as 93 schemes are currently being implemented in Tamil Nadu, only nine schemes are being considered during the current financial year in Bihar.

The officials blamed the reluctance of the Bihar government to implement schemes other than housing for economically weaker sections for the low utilisation of funds. In the last six years, the Bihar State Housing Board has failed to submit a single proposal for the construction of Middle Income Group, Higher Income Group and Lower Income Group housing colonies.

The officials also blamed the Bihar governments faulty land acquisition policy for non-submission of housing proposals in time. They pointed out that it takes years to acquire land for developing a housing colony in Bihar, compared to just a few months in other states.