Govt. allocates funds for payment of Scholarships and reimbursement of tuition fees to the poor students belonging to Minorities. It is very regrettable that the officials act smart when the amounts lapse due to not utilizing them in time.
In this way, a large portion of the amount is sent back to the Govt. treasury unspent. The total budget allocated for Minorities Dept. for the year 2012-13 was Rs. 489 crore but a sum of Rs. 149 crore was remitted in Govt. treasury because it could not be utilized on time. The officials could not submit bills on time to get the funds released. Finance Dept. freezed the Govt. treasury on 26th March. On the other hand, amounts pertaining to SC’s and ST’s were spent in excess to the extent of 20% this year.
According to the details, a sum of Rs. 147.22 crore was sent back to Govt. unspent. It constitutes 30% of the Minorities budget.
Govt. makes lofty claims to grant scholarships to Minority students and also allocates sufficient amounts but due to the negligence of the officials, these amounts remain unclaimed till the end of financial year. Govt. has allocated Rs. 1027 for Minorities in the budget for 2013-14. How can we ensure that this amount would be utilized fully by the officials? According to the statistics available with the Dept. of Treasuries a sum of Rs. 296.25 crore was allocated for the fees reimbursement scheme out of which bills amounting to Rs. 214.69 were submitted to the Dept. of Treasuries.
In this manner, only a sum of Rs. 187.72 crore was spent under the scheme. Rs. 108.53 crore were sent back to Govt. treasury unspent. A sum of Rs. 96 was allocated for scholarships. The officials of Minorities Welfare Dept. submitted bills to the tune of Rs. 63.37 crore. Rs. 57.31 crore were distributed as scholarships and an amount of Rs. 38.69 crore was returned to the Govt. without spending.
It is reported that due to non-submission of bills on time, Finance Dept. won’t release these amounts. Now that the transactions in Govt. treasuries have been freezed, Minority institutions are grumbling of not releasing the amounts pertaining to fees reimbursement.
If the officials of the Dept. of Minorities Welfare act on time, the entire budget allocated for Minorities could be spent.
——Siasat News