Das: In a fix?

Ranchi, April 7: The paradox of the state government having money but not being able to spend, has sharpened.

While in the 2004-05 fiscal year the government was unable to spend Rs 951.85 crore, in the last fiscal that ended in March, indications are that the unspent amount has risen to an alarming Rs 2,200 crore,

In other words, the state government has no dearth of plans. Nor is it short of money. But even five years after creation of the state, the government does not appear to have the administrative structure or the delivery mechanism to ensure that schemes are implemented on the ground.

Sources in the finance department are tight-lipped but concede the broad trends. The implications are yet to sink in and a detailed analysis will have to be made before the department-wise break-up is made available, claimed sources. But they admitted this is the second time in five years that the unspent amount has exceeded Rs 1,000 crore. But even in 2002-03, the figure was a less alarming Rs 1,047 crore, they said.

In 2001-02, a sum of Rs 619.4 crore was surrendered while in 2003-04, the figure was Rs 852.76 crore. But it is this year, that the figures have touched an all-time high.

The data, however, are tentative, claimed finance minister, Raghubar Das.

The final tally, he claimed, cannot be made because of the strike at the State Bank of India. The figure for bills passed by the treasuries have reached the department though, he admitted. What the department is actually not sure is how much payment has actually been made by the SBI branches.

If the minister?s version is correct and if the department has arrived at the Rs 2,200-crore-figure by taking into account only bills passed by the treasuries till March, then the chances are that the actual figure of the unspent amount will be even higher.

The 2005-06 state budget had provided a total outlay of Rs 12,400 crore; Rs 4,500 crore was provided under the plan head while Rs 7, 900 crore under the non-plan head.

Curiously, Das claimed that utilisation under the ?plan? budget was reasonably high and that the state government has managed to spend Rs 4,000 crore till March-end. Under the non-plan budget, however, the shortfall has been to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore, he claimed.

He is unable to explain though how recurring expenditure was avoided by the government.