Press Trust Of India / Allahabad April 28, 2005
Financial mismanagement in the Uttar Pradesh agriculture department, resulting in stagnation in foodgrains output and areas under cultivation, has been detected by the Comptroller And Auditor General Of India (CAG).
According to the CAG, the state agriculture department has been plagued by overall financial mismanagement resulting in low foodgrain production and static cultivation area for the last three years, the CAG’s report for the fiscal ended March 31, 2003 said.
The report is highly critical of the heavy shortfall in the production of state agricultural farms, which it said were not functioning properly and earning receipts ranging between 40 and 57 per cent of the expenditure incurred on them during 1998-99 to 2000-01.
Besides, the report said, the department had obtained supplementary funds without assessing and ascertaining the actual requirements.
The department had also diverted Rs 8.38 crore central assistance towards the clearing of outstanding liabilities of state agriculture farms, it added. Grants received from the Centre for the implementation of various centrally-sponsored schemes also remained largely unutilised during 1997-2003, the report said.
The CAG has also been highly critical of the department’s distribution of seeds.
According to its report, during 2002-03, the state government suffered a Rs 7.19 crore loss due to the production of sub-standard seeds and another Rs 3.02 crore due to the excessive production of gram.
The report has also criticised the department of releasing subsidies of Rs 1.57 crore to suppliers of seeds without proper verification. Rs 1.27 crore had been advanced to one M/S Agro in 1996-97 towards subsidy against the supply of power tillers to farmers, which, till date , had not been refunded to the government, the report added.
Besides, injudicious fixation of procurement price of seeds had also led to an excess payment of Rs 2.96 crore in three crop years to Tarai Development Corporation and other seed supplying agencies, it said.
On the other hand, inadequate distribution of breeder and certified seeds hit the centrally-sponsored cotton development programme even though there was no paucity of funds, the report said, adding even the area under cultivation under the particular scheme declined from 8,771 hectares in 1997-98 to 4,887 hectares in 2001-02.
Manpower management is another area that has come up for criticism from the CAG. While as many as 2,377 group “D” officials were in excess, 1,298 operational posts remained vacant.
Unfruitful expenditure in redundant agriculture workshops is another weak point identified by the CAG report, which pointed out that Rs 3.29 crore had been blocked in the workshops at Azamgarh, Deoria, Ghazipur And Jaunpur, even though they had stopped functioning since May 1995.
Financial mismanagement in the Uttar Pradesh agriculture department, resulting in stagnation in foodgrains output and areas under cultivation, has been detected by the Comptroller And Auditor General Of India (CAG).
According to the CAG, the state agriculture department has been plagued by overall financial mismanagement resulting in low foodgrain production and static cultivation area for the last three years, the CAG’s report for the fiscal ended March 31, 2003 said.
The report is highly critical of the heavy shortfall in the production of state agricultural farms, which it said were not functioning properly and earning receipts ranging between 40 and 57 per cent of the expenditure incurred on them during 1998-99 to 2000-01.
Besides, the report said, the department had obtained supplementary funds without assessing and ascertaining the actual requirements.
The department had also diverted Rs 8.38 crore central assistance towards the clearing of outstanding liabilities of state agriculture farms, it added. Grants received from the Centre for the implementation of various centrally-sponsored schemes also remained largely unutilised during 1997-2003, the report said.
The CAG has also been highly critical of the department’s distribution of seeds.
According to its report, during 2002-03, the state government suffered a Rs 7.19 crore loss due to the production of sub-standard seeds and another Rs 3.02 crore due to the excessive production of gram.
The report has also criticised the department of releasing subsidies of Rs 1.57 crore to suppliers of seeds without proper verification. Rs 1.27 crore had been advanced to one M/S Agro in 1996-97 towards subsidy against the supply of power tillers to farmers, which, till date , had not been refunded to the government, the report added.
Besides, injudicious fixation of procurement price of seeds had also led to an excess payment of Rs 2.96 crore in three crop years to Tarai Development Corporation and other seed supplying agencies, it said.
On the other hand, inadequate distribution of breeder and certified seeds hit the centrally-sponsored cotton development programme even though there was no paucity of funds, the report said, adding even the area under cultivation under the particular scheme declined from 8,771 hectares in 1997-98 to 4,887 hectares in 2001-02.
Manpower management is another area that has come up for criticism from the CAG. While as many as 2,377 group “D” officials were in excess, 1,298 operational posts remained vacant.
Unfruitful expenditure in redundant agriculture workshops is another weak point identified by the CAG report, which pointed out that Rs 3.29 crore had been blocked in the workshops at Azamgarh, Deoria, Ghazipur And Jaunpur, even though they had stopped functioning since May 1995.
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