Imphal, December 12: No more funds would be released to Government Departments which could not utilise 67 percent of the allocated fund within the current month and the same would be diverted to other Departments.

According to a reliable source, the State Planning Department has started monitoring the Departments which are still lagging behind in terms of utilising the allocated fund.

No further funds would be sanctioned to Departments which fail to utlise the fund in time and the fund would be diverted to other Departments requiring more funds, the source said.

The State Planning Department has been issuing strict instructions to all the Heads of Departments (HoDs) in this connection since October, the source pointed out.

Out of the total plan outlay of Rs 985.37 crores in the current fiscal year 2005-06, the sectoral allocation had been carried out and fund released to all the Departments.

However due to various reasons, till September 30 the Departments could utilise Rs 126.77 crores, which is only 12.86 percent of the total plan outlay, the source informed.

In the earlier meetings of all the HoDs, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh who is also in charge of Planning and Finance had expressed grave concern over the possibility of reducing the size of the plan outlay of the State in the next financial year if the allocated plan amount were not utilised in time. Subsequently, all the HoDs have also been instructed to speed up implementation of the plan schemes and projects, the source said.

Although the next installment of the fund could be claimed from DONER for those projects which have already used 75 percent of the fund, there are many Departments which are still lagging far behind the set mark, the source said and added that Power, PHED, PWD and Education (U) are among such Departments which are trailing.

In view of the situation, the State Planning Department has advised all these Departments to speed up project implementation and submit the utilisation certificates (UCs) and Quarterly Project Reports (QPRs) to the DONER so that they are not penalised, according to the source.

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