NEW DELHI, April 22 — The clamour for additional funds by the north-eastern States notwithstanding, the Department of Development of the North-eastern Region (DoNER) has sanctioned less than 50 per cent of the cost of the sanctioned projects indicating that release out of the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) were far less than accruals to the pool. What is perhaps more startling was the fact that as opposed to the mandatory release of the 10 per cent of the gross budgetary support (GBS) for the north-eastern region (NER), some Central ministries and departments have been able to spend only about six to seven per cent.
The developments have prompted a Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the Ministry of Home Affairs to recommend the Union Government to not only release the backlog amount of Rs 1,228.58 crore out of the NLCPR to enable the DoNER to maintain the momentum of developmental activities in the North-east, but also to ensure pro-rata release of funds out of the total accruals to the pool, henceforth. According to the ministry’s estimates, the total amount accrued to the pool during 1998-2002 was Rs 5,806.07 crore, signifying an average accrual of Rs 1400 crore to the NLCPR. The actual size of the pool was later ascertained by DoNER at Rs 2,853.97 crore, after taking into account the debit as on April 2002. However, only Rs 1,318.66 crore has been released to the State between 1998-2002.
The release is less than half of the cost of the sanctioned projects worth Rs 2,728 crore, the Parliamentary Committee observed. The committee remarked that after having a look at the two aspects of the mechanism evolved to ensure flow of funds, it becomes amply clear that neither 10 per cent norm nor NLCPR has been able to maintain a steady flow of funds. Although, on an average, Rs 1,400 crore accrue to the pool every year, the annual release hovered around Rs 300 crore.
This proves that there is a clear mismatch between accruals and the release of funds. As against a projected requirement of Rs 1,050 crore for 2003-04, the Planning Commission has approved only Rs 550 crore. The amount sanctioned by the commission is on the lower side keeping in view the fact that Sikkim has also become a part of the NER. “In this way, the purpose behind setting up of NLCPR is getting defeated as adequate funds are not flowing out of it,” commented the Planning Committee in its report which has surely vindicated the stand of NER. It should be noted that State like Assam, which are clamouring for more funds, have been complaining that funds released out of the pool were too meagre to take care of the projects sanctioned.
Earlier, the committee was told that an exercise undertaken by the DONER in consultation with the Central ministries and departments has revealed that in overall terms, the expenditure by the non-exempt ministries and departments on the North-east was 6.6 per cent of GBS in 1998-999 which increased at an average rate of 0.2 per cent per year to touch a level 7.2 per cent in 2001-02. The DONER officials contended that they expected that the level of expenditure on the North-east will increase at a steady level of 0.5 per cent over the base of year of 2001-02 during the 10th Plan period. Assuming that the same level of GBS as that of 2001-02 during each year of the 10th Plan, the accruals to the pool are estimated to aggregate to Rs 3,392.10 crore during the plan period.
Meanwhile, in its recommendations, the Parliamentary Standing Committee has suggested that annual allocation out of the plan outlay should be on the higher side in the initial years of the plan period so that the projected activities get under way with a head-start.