Misuse of Central Govt. Schemes funds
Modi orders thorough probe, ministries send teams to states
Prime Minister Modi has directed all Union ministries to launch a nation-wide drive to identify pilferages and misuse of funds being given to people under Central Sector (CS) schemes.
Though there are over 100 such schemes which are fully funded by the Union Government and the Prime Minister’s Office and ministries are flooded with the complaints of their misuse of funds and ineligible people getting all sorts of benefits. According to a report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the total developmental expenditure by the central government was a whopping Rs 90,89,233 crore (Rs 90.9 trillion) in eight years (2014-15 to 2021-22).
The PMO is particularly upset after initial scrutiny that in many states benefits have been passed on to wrongful beneficiaries.
The major amount of subsidy is given to PM Awas Yogna (Grameen and Urban) poor, PM-Ujjawala Scheme, PM-KISAN, MGNREGA, PM Poshan and several others.
It was also discovered that massive misuse of funds and benefits are being given to ineligible people in PMAY-Grameen in states like West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Telangana and others.
The PMO also asked the states to constitute ‘Audit Committees’ to probe utilization of those schemes where 100% funding is provided by the Centre. As part of this exercise, a couple of Union ministries have flown its high-level teams to states to physically check as to what’s happening on the ground.
For example, the PMO has directed the Rural Development ministry to complete construction of 2.74 crores houses under PMAY-G by December 31, 2023. As on January 6, 2023, the ministry said that 2.10 crores houses have been completed out of 2.74 crores houses to be built. The government has provided Rs 28,000 crores to the Rural development ministry to complete houses by December, 2023.
A team of ministry’s top officials including one from the PMO landed in West Bengal last week and discovered many instances of benefits enjoyed by ineligible people in connivance with the Panchayats and district administration. The state government suspended a couple of officers and notices were given for the recovery of funds. Similar teams are being sent by other ministries as well to states as complaints are pouring in.