Laxity in signing MoU cost Panchayat Raj institutions dearly

Bangalore, July 27 (UNI) The Panchayat Raj institutions in Karnataka were denied additional funds from the Centre following failure on part of the state Government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union Ministry of Rural Development to prepare a vision statement.

This was indicated in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on Panchayat Raj, presented in the assembly today.

It said various programmes relating to Panchayat Raj were being implemented without a vision document. Even Annual District Plans were prepared in a routine manner as Taluk Panchayats and Grama Panchayats did not forward their plan proposals for incorporation in the Annual District Develoment Plans.

The District Planning Committees were either not constituted or did not meet, as envisaged, it said.

In the implementation of 'Sampoorna Grammeen Rozgar Yojana' during 2000-06, there were instances of denial of 18.66 lakh man-days of employment to rural poor, irregularities in diversion of foodgrains and execution of inadmissible works.

The report said the department had delayed forwarding the annual accounts for auditing and the delay ranged from two to more than 12 months inspite of the stipulation in the Panchayat Raj Act.

During 2002-05 'non plan' expenditure was more than the 'plan expenditure.' Prescribed internal controls were rendered ineffective as reconciliation of expenditure between controlling officers and ZP was in arrears.

As of March 2006, at least 451 cases of misappropriations of Rs 30.40 crore were pending at various stages of settlement in 23 ZPs while 223 works of Rs 24.64 crore remained incomplete.

The delays in settlement of these cases resulted in postponement of recovery and non-recovery and officials responsible for irregularities going unpunished.

The 'Swaccha Grama Yojana' was launched without relevant data regarding the number of households in the villages and the selection of villages was improper which adversely affected the implementation of the scheme, the report said.

The delay in the release of funds to the Karnataka Land Army Corporaion for repayment of loan resuled in an additional liability of Rs 2.77 crore towards interest.

There were instances of diversion of funds amounting to Rs 7.44 crore, the report added.

UNI