MARGAO
Just imagine a situation when a civic body is directed to return development grants back to the government for want of utilization.
The Margao Municipal Council faced a major embarrassment as the government has told the civic body to return back a whopping Rs eight crore development grant lying utilized. Take note, the MMC is facing another major challenge now “ how to utilize the over Rs 30 crore development grant received by the Civic body under the 14th Finance Commission.
The unutilized government grants pertain to the 20-year period from 2002 till date, comprising of development grant sanctioned by the state government and under the Finance Commission. During their 20-year period, the total amount of unutilized grants lying with the Civic body was pegged around Rs 8.09 crore. Given that an amount of Rs 19.92 lakh out of the Rs 8.09 crore comprises of grants under the 11th and 13 Finance Commission, the government has now decided not to return back to the Centre the funds amounting to Rs 19.92 on the plea such a move would paint the state in bad light before the central finance commission officials.
Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes pointed out that the government has asked the return of the development grant after the Central Audit conducted by the local audit unit of Accountant General, Goa raised several objections to the non-utilization of development grants. “The government has observed that the MMC has blocked the government funds without utilization within the time-frame. The funds remained non-utilized from the year 2001 to March 31, 2016, including funds received under the 13th& 14th Finance Commission”, he said.
The government has also told the Civic body to find out the status of the development grants amounting to Rs 57.82 lakh sanctioned in the year 2017-18, with a brief to verify the pending works and submit a report to refund the amount to the government .
Presently, development grants to the tune of around Rs 30 crore received under the 14th Finance Commission has been lying un-utilized with the Civic body.
A glance at the report compiled by the Chief Officer revealed that 14th Finance Commission grants amounting to Rs 13.25 crore remain unspent with the Civic body as on March 31, 2019. The total amount of unspent grants lying with the Civic body is put at a whopping Rs 30 crore as on date.
When the issue was placed before the Civic body on Wednesday, City Fathers including Ganashyam Shirodkar, Sagun Naik, Damu Shirodkar and others expressed concern over the unspent grants and called for utilization of the grants to tone up the solid waste management infrastructure.
