Sent fund utilisation certificates to Centre on time: State chief secy

 He mentioned that 334 central teams had visited the state to inquire into various issues related to panchayats, health, public health engineering (PHE), child welfare, among others.

PTI, Kolkata, Feb 9, 2024 : Amid claims by the state BJP regarding non-utilisation of MGNREGA funds by the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government, a senior official clarified on Friday that different state departments had duly updated the utilisation certificates (UC).

Chief Secretary BP Gopalika, addressing reporters after a meeting with the heads of various state departments and top officials, said every had submitted their utilisation certificates to the Centre date-wise until the funds were made available.

He mentioned that 334 central teams had visited the state to inquire into various issues related to panchayats, health, public health engineering (PHE), child welfare, among others.

Gopalika assured that every question or observation from these visits had been addressed and replied to in Delhi, with no pending queries at present.

Regarding the alleged unavailability of the Rs 2.29 lakh-crore utilisation break-up, as claimed by the BJP citing a CAG report, Gopalika clarified that the report referred to a two-decade timeframe beginning in 2002/03 and was not specifically related to 2021.

He emphasised that if the utilisation break-ups for the 20-year period had not been submitted properly to the CAG, the office of the state accountant general could have been contacted by the CAG for regular audits each year.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, had said even though the time frame of the CAG report ranged from 2003 to 2021, it covered eight years of TMC rule in the state. He alleged that during Mamata Banerjee’s tenure, plunder and misutilisation became evident.