JOIN USRDPR dept got hundreds of crores from Centre on false certificates
The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RD&PR) Department submitted false utilisation certificates to the Union government to get fresh funds between 2011 and 2015 for its rural drinking water supply schemes under the 13th Finance Commission grants, Deccan Herald has learnt.
The Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation (RDWSS) department, which functions under the RD&PR department, obtained about Rs 225 crore from the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation by producing false utilisation certificates. The funds were meant for implementing the Multi-Village Scheme (MVS) and installing Water Purification Plants (WPPs) in Karnataka. In reality, however, just about Rs 33 crore has been spent in the last five years. And the rest of the money has been parked in 12 different banks in violation of norms, documents available with this newspaper show.
As per the 13th Finance Commission (2010-15) guidelines, a state government has to submit the utilisation certificate every year to the Centre for having spent the money in order to become eligible for fresh release for the next financial year.
In 2011, the Centre had approved a Rs 300-crore action plan for the MVS and the WPP to be implemented between 2011 and 2015. In 2011-12, Rs 69.91 crore was released to Karnataka as first instalment. From 2012-13 onwards, the RD&PR department submitted false utilisation certificates to get fresh releases.
The MVS envisages drinking water supply to a cluster of villages from surface water sources like rivers and lakes. As many as 33 MVS and 387 WPP units were to be implemented in habitations where ground water is contaminated.
The RDPR hoodwinking the Centre came to light when a committee set up by the State government to probe into irregular parking of funds verified the statements given by the chief engineer, RDWSS, Bengaluru, on the money spent and the statements obtained from banks. The committee is headed by IFS officer Punati Sridhar.
192.17 cr still in accounts
In a statement on January 30, 2015, the RDWSS chief engineer told the committee that only Rs 18.5 crore out of the total Rs 225 crore was left to be spent. But a statement dated March 31, 2015, obtained from 12 banks where the money has been deposited, shows that Rs 192.17 crore is still left in the accounts. All the utilisation certificates generated by the RDWSS were verified and approved by the RDPR. This newspaper has copies of these certificates.
‘Funds can be misused’
Official sources said the generation of false utilisation certificates gave scope for misuse of funds. It becomes easy and convenient for corrupt officials to draw money from the banks by submitting fictitious bills, they added.
The Punati Sridhar Committee has raised serious objections to submission of false certificates to the Centre and recommended that the State government take action against the officials concerned. But its report is silent on the misuse of funds.
When contacted, RDWSS Commissioner M Manjunath Naik said the utilisation certificates might have been submitted “in the interests of the State”. This may have been done with an intention to get fresh releases from the Centre, he said but refused to elaborate on the issue saying he was appointed to the post only recently.
Why deposits in so many banks?
Though the Punati Sridhar Committee reveals that a whopping Rs 1,335.89 crore was parked in 1,128 accounts in violation of norms, it’s silent on why the officials were eager to deposit the money in hundreds of banks.
A former chief secretary of Karnataka, who spoke on the condition anonymity, said that both nationalised and private banks gave commission for deposits running into crores of rupees. In banking parlance, the commission is called mobilisation fund and varies from 0.25 to 0.50 per cent of the total deposits and from bank to bank.
The committee has found that public funds deposited in these banks are in the name of the designated officers of the department and the interest accumulated was not misused.