Audit Reports
Uttar Pradesh
Report of 2009 - Financial Audit on Panchayati Raj Institutions, Government of Uttar Pradesh
Overview
Government of India introduced (January 2007) the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) programme with an objective to redress regional imbalances in development and to bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other development requirements which were not being adequately met through existing inflows. The expected outcome of the BRGF was to contribute towards poverty alleviation in backward districts and promote accountable and responsive Panchayats. The BRGF provides financial resources for supplementing and converging existing developmental inflows into 250 identified districts of the country. In Uttar Pradesh 34 districts have been selected for implementation of the programme.
The performance audit on 'Receipt and Utilization of BRGF grants by Panchayati Raj Institutions' in the State covering the period 2006-10 revealed the following.BRGF programme was to be implemented by preparing a perspective plan. Perspective plans including critical gaps for only 25 out of 34 BRGF districts could be prepared by March 2010 and annual plans for the years 2007-09 for Rs.1306.99 crore were approved by High Powered Committee (HPC) without perspective plans.The annual plans were to be prepared on the basis of perspective plans, forwarded by District Planning Committees (DPCs) and approved by HPC for execution. DPCs were not constituted till May 2008 and Rs.510.28 crore allocated for the year 2006-07 was not released by Gol.The Guidelines provided for preparation of sub-plans for SCs/STs in proportion to their population in the districts. These sub-plans were not prepared up to the year 2009-10.
The State Government was unable to receive a sum of Rs.1268.24 crore (52 per cent of the total allocation) from Government of India (GoI) during the period 2006-10 as necessary planning such as constitution of DPC, preparation of perspective plan etc. was not established.The State Government released Rs.103.75 crore in excess to Zila Panchayats (ZPs) which included the share of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), Kshetra Panchayats (KPs) and Gram Panchayats (GPs) during 2009-10 against the normative formula adopted for inter-se allocation. The Guidelines provided transfer of funds directly into the bank accounts of Panchayats within 15 days of release from GoI by the State Government. The State Government routed the funds through District Nodal Agencies and the funds transfer was delayed between 15 days and 12 months creating a liability of interest for Rs.5.84 crore.An amount of Rs.1.36 crore remained (July 2010) undisbursed with DPROs.The Guidelines provided for capability building in Panchayats for preparing participatory plans, execution and monitoring by allocating Rs. one crore per BRGF district per annum. The State Government was unable to prepare such plans and thus failed to receive a sum of Rs.90.44 crore from the GoI.The State Government paid Rs.12.68 crore to the Executing Agencies as service tax as part of the cost of construction of GP Sachivalaya which was not required.