Financial year 2012-13 has come to grand finale on 31 March. But out of the projected demand of Rs. 8000 crore under annual plan and Rs. 600 crore under PMRP, the State has received only Rs. 538 crore on the closing day of the financial year which was 30 March 2013. Bills for to the tune of 800 to 900 crore rupees are pending with various departments of the Government for clearance but the treasuries have no money to pay. Not to speak of opposition, even Congress ruling party members raised the question in the Assembly. The Finance Minister expected release of funds before the sunset on 30th March since 31 March happened to be a Sunday and a non-working day. This shows how slender the thread is. The amount not released by the centre so far includes the centrally sponsored schemes like Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan (PMRP), an ambitious plan aimed at changing the economic condition of various states.
Obviously, the Centre would not isolate J&K for either release or deferment of grants already approved by the Planning Commission. But we understand that the Planning Commission and the Union Finance Ministry ask for some clarifications and explanations on previous year’s account. Either the State Government has not responded to those enquiries or it has not convinced the Planning Commission with the replies furnished. Whatever the case, the delay in release of funds is not a new thing. This has been happening in the past and with many other states also. On that count one should not interpret it anything exclusive to our State.
However, the fact of the matter is that ours is a deficit state and we have huge arrears especially on account of big electricity bill. Inordinate delay in making payment can cause serious crisis in the State which has very meagre means of its own to sustain the economy even for the shortest period of time. We know that the Chief Minister will meet with central leadership including the Planning Commission echelons and prevail upon them to release the funds. We would have liked that he was not put to this exercise and that funds were released before the financial year was out. That has not happened and the CM is now obliged to run the errand of expediting the nod from authorities that matter.
Another problem associated with delayed and deferred release of funds is that some of them lapse and the State is made to suffer. Yes there are some centrally sponsored schemes like the PMRP for which funds do not lapse but there are other heads under which allocations lapse and they need re-validation. This process has to be gone through and only then the funds that could not be released or utilised within the span of financial year will be released. When these releases are made, it indirectly means that the period of their completing is also enhanced.
We would like to draw the attention of the Union Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission to the fact that the State of J&K is passing through very unusual times and it is under many pressures. Normal running of the administration and functioning of state administrative apparatus has been adversely affected. This does not happen always and is a rare phenomenon. As such, the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission would be very pragmatic and realistic to take this extraordinary situation into consideration and remove the bottlenecks whatever these be in the path of the State Government for steady march on the road to development. The harsh fact is that the enemies are trying to put spoke in the wheel of our development. We cannot stop moving forward because if our development is arrested it would mean that the enemy succeeds in his nefarious designs. Neither the State nor the Union Government can afford that. This, however, does not mean that the norms and standards proposed by the Planning Commission or the Union Finance and other Ministries will not be adhered to. Without their guidance, satisfactory progress in developmental works is not possible. Thus in the matter of allocations, there has to be two channel movement viz. grant and release of adequate funds under whatever heads and secondly proper implementation of the guidelines give by the central agencies and the Planning Commission.
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