The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has said that delays in completion of irrigation projects by Telangana government during the years 2014-19 not only adversely impacted the quality of expenditure but also deprived the State of intended profits and economic growth.
Out of 26 ongoing projects, 20 projects were delayed for periods ranging from three months to eleven years and led to escalation of projected cost of ₹ 1.87 lakh crore. A sum of ₹ one lakh crore was already spent on these incomplete projects so far. The State government did not disclose the financial results of any of the irrigation projects, a report of CAG tabled in the Assembly on Friday said.
The State government maintained the mandatory minimum daily cash balance of ₹ 1.38 crore with RBI for only 197 days during 2018-19. The government depended on Special Drawing Facility (SDF) for 168 days to raise ₹ 5,606 crore, Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for 135 days for ₹ 13,616 crore and Over Draft (OD) for 32 days for ₹ 2,599 crore for maintaining the minimum balance with RBI.
In monetary terms, however, the SDF and OD decreased by ₹ 1,099 crore (five per cent decrease) in 2018-19 over 2017-18. However, it still indicated increasing dependence of government on WMA. The interest payment on WMA , including SDF and OD during 2018-19 was ₹ 15.44 crore as against ₹ 13.82 crore in 2017-18 which was 12 per cent increase.
The report said Telangana focussed more on development expenditure and capital expenditure during the year. The focus on education was comparatively lesser across years from 2015-16 to 2018-18. Agriculture got the top priority with 97.82 per cent increase in per capita expenditure over previous year due to Rytu Bandhu scheme. There was a considerable increase of 12.41 per cent on health and family welfare over previous year. There was a considerable dip in per capita expenditure in respect of transpor, education, sports, arts and culture.
The burden of committed expenditure measured as a percentage of revenue expenditure of the State which was steadily rising during the previous years declined by six per cent from 61 per cent of revenue expenditure in 2017-18.
