Minister accuses panchayats of fund misuse

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 2. The SC/ST Welfare Minister, Dr. M.A. Kuttappan, has accused local bodies of diversion and misutilisation of funds meant for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and mooted an inquiry into the several complaints in this regard.

Dr. Kuttappan told a press conference here today that the Government was being held answerable for the lack of development in the SC/ST sector despite a major part of the funds and powers of the SC/ST Welfare Department having been `tyrrannically appropriated' by the local bodies. He would not commit himself to a probe, but said the department was thinking of holding an inquiry with the involvement of the Finance, Planning and Local Fund Audit Departments.

The Minister said though the local bodies had sufficient funds to complete SC/ST development schemes as part of grant-in-aid, they were pressuring the department to provide additional funds for the purpose. At the same time, the department was also faced with criticism for the flaws in implementation of various schemes by the local bodies, he said.

Dr. Kuttappan said though expenditure for providing educational assistance to SC/ST students had exceeded the Budget allocation by Rs. 1 crore, Scheduled Caste students were yet to be paid arrears to the tune of Rs. 7.13 crores, Scheduled Tribe students Rs. 1.28 crores and other eligible sections Rs. 5.17 crores. The management of matric hostels have been vested with municipalities, corporations and block panchayats and the necessary funds were available in the grant-in-aid scheme. However, the hostels were faced with serious crisis for want of sufficient funds.

The Minister said several irregularities had also come to light, including the appointment of ineligible persons as tutors. Although officials had found good buildings to house the hostels, some of the local bodies were withholding permission for shifting the hostels. With the scrapping of 61 taluk SC offices, it has become impossible for persons belonging to Scheduled Castes to get their grievances redressed, he added.

Dr. Kuttappan said the utilisation of funds under the Special Component Plan (SCP) during the 9th Plan period was must as compared to that during the 8th Plan. While around 90 per cent of the funds were utilised during the 8th Plan, the fund utilisation came to just 67.9 per cent during 1998-'99, 77 per cent during 1999-'2000 and 72.9 per cent during 2000-'01. A large part of even this was either deposited in various accounts heads or misutilised, he said.

The Minister said there were several instances of misutilisation of funds by the local bodies. The Munnar grama panchayat in Idukki had SC funds for purchasing three mini buses and the Idukki district panchayat had bought two road rollers using the same funds, dug a pond and constructed `tribal honeymoon cottages' spending Rs. 72 lakhs. In Wayanad, Rs. 8.5 lakhs out of Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) funds were spent for constructing houses for the general population.

In Kannur, an oragnisation with Mr. M.V. Govindan Master, MLA, as its member was given Rs. 5 lakhs for taking out a `kalajatha'. Although the Thrissur municipality started a computer centre spending Rs. 19 lakhs, it has become non-functional for want of working capital. The local bodies, Dr. Kuttappan said, had also not kept statistics relating to physical and economic achievements of various projects meant for Scheduled Tribes. There were also complaints that execution of schemes such as rehabilitation of the landless, construction of houses and creation of basic infrastructure in SC/ST colonies was in a mess following transfer of powers and funds to the local bodies, he said.

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Section  : Southern States
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