DM to review funds use

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 15 JULY: The district magistrate, Mr Sridhar Ghosh, will call a meeting soon to review utilisation of the funds allotted to this district from the Uttar Banga Unnayan Parishad (UBUP) in the past two financial years. The decision was taken yesterday after attending a review meeting convened by the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in Kolkata.

According to the Mr Ghosh, the present rate of utilisation of funds for Malda is less than 30 per cent. In comparison, North Dinajpur has utilised nearly 67 per cent of UBUP's funds for the financial year 2008-09.

“We had been preparing many small schemes and seeking financial assistance from UBUP. But many of them have not been implemented yet. As a result the rate of utilisation is low. Other districts had prepared a small number of big schemes and have been utilised funds after the completion of those schemes,” said Mr Ghosh.

Mr Ghosh said than an annual action plan for the financial year 2009-10 has been made. The Malda district could not utilise funds up to the mark allotted from 2006-2009. The estimated budget for the current financial year for this district was nearly Rs 9 crore.

“The UBUP had allotted funds for the construction of a Muslim girls’ hostel in Malda town. The Malda Zilla Parishad (MZP) could not select a plot of land for its construction due to lack of required space. The MZP can select a plot of land in a rural belt like Gazole or Chanchal, but if we do the project in the rural belt it will lose its utility,” said Mr Ghosh.

“Nobody knows how the funds will be utilised in future,” he added.