Lack of transparency in government’s policies and developmental works leads to rapid increase in the number of outstanding utilisation certificates for certain developmental works and projects in Manipur, social researcher Serto Tondana Kom said on Thursday.
Serto was briefing to the media on Thursday at Manipur Press Club, Imphal regarding the outstanding utilisation certificate in the state.
He said according to the “State Finance Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, for the year ending March 31, 2019,” the total number of outstanding utilisation certificates from the state is 5,839 amounting to Rs 8129.22 crore in respect of 38 departments.
From 2017 till 2019, the outstanding utilisation certificates for every year was increased by over 1,000 which is amounting to above Rs 2,000 per month, Serto pointed out.
Asserting that the Audit Report was published for the financial health for the state, he asked the state government, especially the chief minister and the Finance minister to relook into the Abstract Contingent Bill (ACB) and Detailed Countersigned Contingent (DCC) for the improvement.
Further pointing out that releasing the funds only during the financial year gives a lot of inconvenience, he suggested releasing the funds quarterly for more convenience.
Working in transparency by the cabinet ministers, MLAs and head departments are the most important keys to produce the outstanding utilisation certificates, Serto added.
