Central funds: Spend by 31 March or return

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 6 JAN: National Horticulture Mission (NHM), ministry of agriculture, Central government, has asked all the district administrations to return funds that are lying unspent. A top district administrative official in Mald said: “The NHM has sent letters to the district administrations and has asked them to return the unspent funds, if they do not utilise them by 31 March this year.”.

On receiving such instructions, the additional district magistrate (land reforms), Mr KN Dew, who is dealing with the file of horticulture department in Malda, had sought clarification about the unspent funds received from the NHM. The district administration has finally detected that a total of Rs 1.18 crore, a fund which was allotted for the expansion of new orchard schemes (mango, banana and others) in 2009-10, is still lying unspent.

In reply, the district horticulture officer (DHO), Mr Goutam Roy said: “There is no question of returning the NHM funds right now. We will be able to utilise the funds by 31 March for sure.”

When contacted, Mr Goutam Roy said: “We could not utilise the funds during the span of the months of May to September owing to the general elections and other technical reasons.

“We have planned to allot funds to the farmers who have expanded their orchards for their own interests this year. Selection of such farmers is under process.”

Mr Roy further added that the NHM had also allotted funds for the expansion of banana orchards in Malda.

“But we could not work on the expansion of banana orchards as the plantation of banana seeds was not possible during winter ~ from November to January”, he said.

“But we are confident that by 31 March we will be able to utilise the allotted funds,” Mr Roy added.

The NHM has issued such letters of returning unspent funds because many districts could not utilise the allotted for various other projects, Mr Roy said.

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