GTA hasn't submitted utilization certificate for Rs 135 crore, says RTI

YAWAN GURUNG, EOI, MIRIK, JUNE 10, 2022: Out of about Rs 600 crore financial assistance provided to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration by the Centre, the GTA has not submitted utilization certificates for Rs 135 crore, it has been revealed in the written reply from the Union Ministry of Home dated March 31, 2021, to an RTI application filed on February 18, 2021.

As per the terms of Clause 14 of the tripartite agreement on GTA signed on GTA, between 2102 and 2017 the Centre provided financial assistance to the tune of Rs 599.99 crore to the GTA. 

This was a one-time grant to develop the socio-economic infrastructure of the GTA region. Executive members of the GTA Sabha were responsible for the proper utilization of this fund. 

According to the reply to the RTI, out of this amount of Rs 600 crore, GTA submitted utilization certificate for only Rs 465 crore. This would mean that about Rs 135 crore, for which GTA could not produce utilization certificate till March 31,2021, had either not been utilized or gone missing. 

Sources said that the only way to expose financial irregularities in the GTA was to carry out a CAG audit in all GTA accounts from 2012, when GTA was formed, to 2021. In this period, there had been stories of rags-to-riches in the hills, they said. 

The issue of non-submission of utilization certificates to the tune of Rs135 crore finds a mention in the election manifesto of the Hamro Party for GTA polls. 

The RTI was made by Phinjo Wangyl Gurung, a resident of Darjeeling. He is also the president of the student wing of Hamro Party and one of its executive members.