Karnataka: Key schemes in red, Rs 21,000 crore in funds remain unspent

At least four major departments, including Health, are in the red for underspending on seven key schemes this financial year, according to data presented in the Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting on Wednesday.

By the end of September, the halfway mark in the fiscal, the Health Department has not incurred any expenditure on strengthening primary healthcare facilities using the 15th Finance Commission grants, for which there is a budget allocation of Rs 552 crore.

Similarly, the agriculture department has recorded zero expenditure under the PM-KISAN scheme - financial incentives to farmers - that has Rs 2,120 crore budgeted. The energy department has not spent money towards pension payment contribution (Rs 1,000 crore allocation) and the urban development department has nil expenditure on the Bengaluru suburban rail project for which Rs 590 crore is earmarked.

The Housing Department has spent just 5-20% of money on the PMAY (rural), Ashraya-Basava and BR Ambedkar Nivas schemes. Their total allocation is Rs 1,600 crore.

Totally, the government has an unspent allocation of Rs 21,331.65 crore by the end of September, according to data.

The highest non-spenders include the departments of primary & secondary education (Rs 3,259.49 crore), urban development (Rs 2,658.52 crore) and home (Rs 2,398.85 crore).

A prominent lag is in the development of rural roads (PM Gram Sadak Yojana) on which the government has spent just 21.48% against an allocation of Rs 1,771.36 crore.

“Our expenditures will start picking up. Till September, we were preparing estimates and doing the tender process. Also, we had a prolonged monsoon, so all our asphalting work had to be put on hold,” Rural Development & Panchayat Raj principal secretary LK Atheeq said, when contacted.

The good news is that Karnataka’s expenditure figures look better this financial year compared with the previous pandemic-hit fiscal. Between April and September, the government had spent Rs 77,883.78 crore, which is 35.94% of the total budgetary allocation for the fiscal. This is higher than Rs 62,065.15 crore or 28.23% in the corresponding period last year.

Eight big-ticket programmes, each worth Rs 500 crore or more, have seen an expenditure exceeding 95%. This includes interest subsidy for cooperative crop loans, disaster relief, subsidy for rice/wheat, Ayushman Bharat, highway development and MGNREGA.

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