the goan I network
MAPUSA
If Mapusa has missed the development bus, the Mapusa civic body has to shoulder much of the blame for failure to utilise government resources on time.
According to sources, the Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) has either failed to utilize funds sanctioned by the government or parked it in fixed deposits depriving the city of much needed development.
Under the 14th Finance Commission, the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) had received Rs 21 crore for a period of 19 months (from April 2016 to October 2017), of which Rs 10.51 crore was released to various municipalities in the State.
Almost all municipalities used the funds and sent their utilization certificates to the department, but for some reason, the Mapusa civic body failed to utilize the funds and subsequently failed to produce the utilization certificate.
Similarly, in the last three years, the State government had released Rs 2.53 crore as development grants to MMC, which was not utilized for any works. The funds were later parked in a Fixed Deposits account.
In yet another case, MMC managed to utilize just Rs 40 lakh of the total Rs 2 crore released by the DMA under the Golden Jubilee funds.
For the period from April 2016 to October 2017, the Goa State Urban Development Agency received government grants to the tune of Rs 32.41 crore.
From these grants, Rs 9 crore was spent for beautification and illumination of various streets in Mapusa.
Similarly, Rs 2.5 crore was used for development of an approach road to the city and another Rs 2.40 crore to upgrade the Lohia garden in
Mapusa.
Sources informed The Goan that almost 60 percent of the GSUDA funds were utilized for the development of
Mapusa city.
MMC'S MONEY SAGA
Under the 14th Finance Commission, DMA had received ` 21 cr
` 10.51 crore released to various municipalities in the State
Almost all municipalities use funds, send utilisation certificates to dept
Mapusa civic body fails to utilise funds, fails to produce utilisation certificate
In last 3 years, MMC was sanctioned ` 2.53 cr as development grants
Money not utilised for any works; funds parked in FD account
MMC utilises just ` 40 lakh of ` 2 cr released by DMA under Golden Jubilee funds
MMC utilised all grants: Kavlekar
MAPUSA: Mapusa Municipal Council Chairperson Rohan Kavlekar has claimed that the civic body has utilised all the grants received from the government, but admitted that some funds may have been held back due to some technical reasons.
"Funds received from the 14th Finance Commission were also utilised," he said, adding that one of the utilisation certificates had been sent to the Directorate of Municipal Administration in July 2017.
"Some funds may have been held back due to some technical reasons, but by and large, we managed to resolve issues and utilised the funds," Kavlekar said.
According to the chairperson, the council was receiving a lot of queries from the finance department and that was one of the main reasons for works getting held up.
