Bengal fails to spend Rs 400 cr health mission funds received from Centre

KOLKATA:  At a time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is accusing the BJP-led Centre of holding the release of Rs 6,500 crore under the MGNREGA scheme, the West Bengal government has failed to spend Rs 400 crore under the National Health Mission (NHM) scheme in the just-concluded financial year, according to sources in the health department. Only 68 per cent of the fund given under the NHM scheme could be spent within the stipulated time.

The director of the NHM in the state on Monday sent a message to the chief medical officers, saying that if the expenditure of Rs 400 crore of the Centre’s allotted fund is not shown within the next one week, Bengal will not get fresh funds from the Centre under the scheme in the first phase of the present financial year.

“This is a herculean task. When we could not spend the money in an entire financial year, how is it possible to show its expenditure within a week?,’’ an official asked.

In the 2021-22 financial year, the state had submitted a project implementation plan worth Rs 3,301 crore to the NHM, and the Centre had approved projects worth Rs 2,738 crore. The Centre was supposed to give 60 per cent of the total project cost while the rest had to be borne by the state government. 

“Accordingly, the Centre allotted Rs 1,643 crore and the state incurred Rs 1,095 crore. But we could not submit expenditure of Rs 400 crore of the central fund. Now, the Centre has said if we fail to show the expenditure, they will deduct it from the allotment of the first phase of this financial year, which means we will get nothing,’’ said another official.

The official added that main expenditures could not be uploaded because the server of the bank, through which the department works, did not work during April-May. “Many bills from vendors didn’t reach us or could not be scrutinised on time. This also led to our failure to show the expenditure,’’ the official admitted.