Rs 10k cr funds not utilised by TN: CAG

The departments like Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Finance, School Education, Municipal Administration and Water Supply, Highways and Minor Ports and Energy have surrendered Rs 10,938 crore (nearly 4.62 per cent of total provision) due to non-execution of sanctioned projects in the year 2018, said the state finance audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India tabled in the state Assembly on Saturday.

The amount was surrendered by the departments on the last day of financial year and the government could not utilise the surrendered amount for developmental works, the report said.

The CAG pointed out discrepancies and poor project execution by various departments of the state government.

“The savings in the revenue voted grant was 23.12 per cent and capital voted grant was 50.68 per cent during the year. Surrenders in revenue sections were noticed under basic grants to municipal corporations as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission controlled by commissioner of municipal administration implementing Swachh Bharat Mission,” the report stated.

Various commissioners of municipal administration during their tenure submitted due to non-utilisation of funds for implementation of these schemes have an AMRUT sanctioned sum of Rs 623 crore. Similarly, NABARD assisted combined water supply scheme executed by TWAD board also surrendered funds amounting to Rs 450 crore. In the implementation of Smart Cities programme Rs 330 crore were also surrendered due to non-utilisation of funds, the CAG said.

In the Highways and Minor Ports department savings in the capital grant during the year was 20.1 per cent and amount of Rs 1,022 crore, which includes Rs 668 crore (Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project phase 2) and Rs 120 crore under Chennai Outer Ring Road were surrendered. A sum of Rs 139 crore for construction of flyover at Salem junction road and Rs 94.28 crore to decongest Chennai traffic and transport were also surrendered due to delay in land acquisition and non-finalisation of tenders, the report said.

The CAG also noted that the departments has recorded 205 misappropriation of fund cases resulting in a loss of Rs 1.24 crore and there were 30 cases of theft in the departments resulting in a loss of Rs 12.46 lakh. As on March 2018, 363 cases of misappropriation, shortage, theft and loss involving a total of Rs 14.94 crore were pending disposal, the CAG said.

Number of theft cases were steep in Higher Education and Health departments with eight and four cases respectively. In terms of misappropriation of funds, the revenue department overtook other departments with as many as 119 cases.

The outstanding debt of the state government grew by 14.57 per cent over the previous year and the financial growth rate has slowed down, said the 2019 State Finance audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The state government, up to March 2018, had invested a sum of Rs 33,579 crore in statutory corporations, joint stock companies and cooperatives. The average rate of return increased from 0.20 per cent in 2013-14, 0.62 per cent in 2016-17, but declined to 0.45 per cent in 2017-18. The return on investment during 2013-18 was meagre compared to government average rate of borrowing of 8.33 per cent, the CAG said.

The outstanding liabilities of the state as a percentage of Growth State Domestic Product (GSDP) was 22.48 per cent, which was marginally above the norm prescribed by the 14th Finance Commission, the report said.

The revenue receipts of the state increased by Rs 6,049 crore which is 4.31 per cent over the previous year and stood at Rs 1,46,280 crore. The annual growth rate of revenue receipts during 2018 stood at 4.31 per cent which was much less than the growth rate of 11.30 per cent observed for the general category of a states’ growth. The growth rate of revenue receipts also declined from 8.70 per cent in 2016 to 4.31 per cent in 2018 which is the lowest for the last five years.

The revenue results as a percentage of GSDP range between 10.25 to 11.41 during 2013-18. Revenue buoyancy with reference to state’s own taxes stood at 0.48 per cent in 2018 which is again the lowest in the last five years period.

The audit also observed that the state by not joining the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act 2013, had incurred an avoidable additional expenditure of Rs 791 crore.