Unused funds lying waste

Friday, 19 March 2010 17:05
Source: Written by parivallal   ,M. Stephen. Reporter. Anytime Chennai news team. The annual ward development fund was increased recently by the Chennai Corporation for annual ward development fund for each councilor from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh, but the records show that the use of such funds to provide amenities is lagging in execution.  In fact, one-third of the total development fund allotted to councilors since 2005-06 — approximately Rs 20 crore — was still lying dormant due to delays in procedures or shortage of space to install facilities. The civic body revealed this in a reply to an application filed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.  Not even a single paisa has been spent by the three ward councillors during the last three years. Funds allotted to 17 others, including 12 belonging to the ruling party, for the current financial year lay completely untouched till December 2009. The utilisation of the mayor’s special development fund is also poor — of the Rs 2 crore allotted in four years (Rs 50 lakh per year), only 22% has been spent. V Madhav an activist from porur who demanded information from the civic body on this issue under the RTI information received reply some weeks ago. The Chennai Corporation Mayor M Subramanian said that merely blaming the councillors for not utilizing the funds will not do. “Councillors cannot handle the fund directly, they can only give a letter to the corporation recommending implementation of development works. Moreover they can only recommend for about 15 types of works like road laying, construction of footpaths and building of noon-meal centres. Money which is not used for ward development go unspent but are credited to the capital account of the corporation and again spent on development works,’’ he said. –