A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report of allocation and expenditure of funds in Baramulla district in the last five years has criticized various departments for improper management of finances. The report also points out that more money is spent on administration than on the development activities.
While the number of primary schools has increased from 861 to 986, in Baramulla district the enrolment had declined from 94,250 to 93,700. The administration has also not been able to complete schemes related to basic amenities like water supply and healthcare. In the last five years 25 WSS have been completed leaving 184 other schemes incomplete. And the sub-district hospitals and Community health centres are short of requisite doctors and staff
The district, the report points out, has received 1162.54 crore during the period of 2005-06 to 210-11.
The report flays the government departments for non-utilisation of funds released. The expenditure incurred in social sector during these years was 224.95 crore out of 235.88 crore released, while only 673.66 crore have been expended on economic sector out of 718.95 crore in the same period.
Within the Social sector education has received 111.05 crore against which 107.37 crore had been spent during 2005-11. The Chief medical officer of the district has recived 99.37 crore out of which 98.85 crore have been spend.
In the economic sector the biggest recipient of funds allocated by the government is Power Development Department which stand at 145.61 crores. But the report has at the same time criticized the department for not being able to stop the power losses in the district.
Education
The report says that the union and state governments had spend huge funds for enrollment and retention of children in schools, especially primary schools but the schools have failed to attract students either because of the poor infrastructure or for want of teachers.
The report criticizes the district education authorities for not utilizing funds, in full, for its flagship programme, the Sarva Shikha Abhiyan, launched in 2000-01.
“The funds allocated meant for the programme could not be utilized in full as 20.51 crore were lying unspent with the Chief Education Officer Baramulla,” the report observes.
In the education sector poor utilization of funds led to swelling up of unspent balances from 11.82 crore during 2005-06 to 20.52 crore by the end of March 2011, which, according to the CAG report, adversely affected the achievement of the scheme.
While the number of primary schools had increased from 861 to 986, the enrolment of students in the primary schools had declined from 94,250 to 93,700. The number of students has declined mostly in rural areas which might be primarily because of inadequate infrastructure, the report says.
The report also noted that 702 primary and upper schools were still having one or two classrooms. About 113 primary schools were having only two classrooms. Out of the total of 1,607 primary/upper schools, 516 schools were still operating from rented buildings.
The auditors have observed that 10 school buildings were in bad condition and had been declared unsafe by ZEO, Kunzar but the schools had continued to run in eight of the ten buildings thereby putting the children at risk. It has blamed the department for “lack of interest” in repairing or shifting the schools to safer buildings.
The report further notes that improper deployment of teachers was serious concern. The teacher student ratio in the 35 out of 68 sampled schools was in range of 1:4 and 1:32 which was more than the norms fixed and indicated excess deployment of teachers in the schools.
Health
The report flays the health department for failing to implement the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme properly. The NHRM scheme occupies central position in the rural healthcare.
Under the programme health department was to prepare a five year perspective for the district based on perspective plans for the blocks and perspective plans for villages. The perspective plan was to be based on baseline surveys of health care facilities.
The district health authorities have not prepared any perspective or annual plans or even the database as envisaged in the programme, the report says.
The obstetrics services including caesarean section and blood storage facility were to be provided round the clock in CHCs, which the department failed to establish.
The report pointed out that caesarean section services were not available in four out of six CHCs (Chandoosa, Uri, Keeri and Pattan) as no gynecologists or obstetricians posted in these hospitals.
Water Supply
The report blames the Public Health Engineering Department for delay in completion of various water supply schemes.
Instead of completing the ongoing WSS approved by the District Development Board first, the department took up new schemes within a limited budget.
As a result many WSS remained incomplete for periods longer than envisaged, leading to costs and time over-runs and denial of intended benefits to the inhabitants, the report says.
It was noticed that due to faulty planning 49 schemes due to complete within two to three years, on which 71.69 crore had been spent, had suffered time overrun ranging between two to 12 years.
The Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme prescribe four hours duration of water supply per day, yet 72 villages had not been able to get adequate water as per ARWSP norms. An expenditure of 3.86 crore had been incurred by the department during 2005-11.
The department of PHE for ensuring the water quality had established a laboratory to carry out preliminary water testing. A testing laboratory though constructed by the department at a cost of 9.26 lakh was not functional as of June 2011 for non-availability of the equipment for which 3.75 lakh has already been provided.
Municipal Council
The Muncipal council neither utilized the funds fully nor did it maintain the “basic” records.
The authorities attributed under-utilization of funds to non-availability of sufficient engineering staff in the council which in turn adversely affected the implementation of developmental schemes.
The auditors have observed that neither had the utilization certificate been submitted by Council against the grant of 3.59 crore received during the period 2005-11 nor had it conducted periodical reconciliation of grants with the grant releasing authority.
The Baramulla municipal council collects about 1900 metric tonnes of solid waste, which is removed to its dumping site at Jetty 8 kms from the council premises. The report, however, states there is no provision for disposal of the waste and it is kept in an open space without any fence wall.
According to the report 67 containers and a dumper placer vehicles had been provided to the council. The council, however, was still in need of another 50 containers.
Besides the council had only 147 sweepers for sweeping the entire municipality leaving most of the area unattended.
Police
On the security front Baramulla district is facing shortage of weaponry it has asked authorities to recover weapons provided to Special Police Officers (SPOs) and civilians in late 1990’s to avoid their misuse and threat to community.
“There is a huge gap between the minimum requirement of weaponry and its availability, which is a cause for concern as they impede the ability of forces in tackling subversive activities and other law and order situations,” the CAG report says.
The report further disclosed that the weapons provided to SPOs and civilians from 1995 to 1999 for security purposes had neither been returned nor any assessment has been conducted regarding utilization of the issued arms and ammunition.
It stated that district police also lacks medium and light vehicles. “Baramulla police should have 66 vehicles but it has only 15 vehicles at its disposal. The inadequate availability of vehicles with police stations has affected the performance of the force,” the report says.
