of West Bengal Trinamool Congress On the one hand, the (Trinamool Congress) government has been accusing the central government of not providing funds. The state government claims that the central government is not getting funds under MNREGA, Rural Housing Scheme and Rural Road Scheme. But meanwhile, the West Bengal government has been accused of not being able to utilize the funds received by the central government. It has been told that the West Bengal government has not been able to spend the amount received under the 15th Finance Commission for rural development works.
Direction order to District Magistrates to hold meeting with Panchayat Department officials
Now the state government has asked the District Magistrates to organize coordination meetings with the Panchayat officers of the respective districts to ensure that the unspent funds allocated for their districts are utilized during the remaining three months of the current financial year. It is noteworthy that funds for rural development projects are mainly channeled through two tiers of the three-tier Panchayat system in West Bengal, namely, Zilla Parishad and Gram Panchayats.
Maximum Rs 305 crore unused in Murshidabad
According to the information, Murshidabad district has the highest unused amount of Rs 305.11 crore, while South 24 Parganas district is at second place, where Rs 298.03 crore has not been utilized yet. Other districts where fund utilization has fallen are North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, East Burdwan, Birbhum and Nadia, where unspent funds amount to Rs 100 crore. Opposition parties are claiming that due to lack of monitoring, unspent funds got accumulated in the last quarter of the current financial year. They are also pointing out that by neglecting this important sector the state government has actually deprived the rural population of their legitimate dues.