Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 23
The Nagaland State Village Development Board Association (NSVDBA) has asserted that an amount of Rs 501.51 crore only was received under MGNREGA during 2016-17 as published in local dailies on August 22, 2017.
The NSVDBA which quoted three different “sanction orders” dated 19/05/2016 (Rs 59.20cr), 21/04/2016 (Rs 73.74cr) and 07/04/2016 (Rs 368.57cr) was refuting to ACAUT’s statement that a total of Rs 1188, 79, 10000 (Rs 1188.79 crore) was released under MGNREGA during 2016-17.
It may be noted that a report published in The Morung Express on July 31, 2017 pointed out the release of Rs 591.09 crore in 2016. This amount crosses the Rs 501.51 crore, which the NSVDBA said it had received.
Additionally, this year on May 1, an amount of Rs 597.68 crore (as revealed by ACAUT and published on August 20, 2017) was released by the State Finance Department, under “liquidating pending liabilities of wages and materials during 2016-17.”
The purported ‘pending liabilities’ of Rs 597.68 crore is astonishingly more than the total amount of Rs 591.09 crore released for the same financial year, resulting in a case where the pending liabilities crosses more than 100% of actual payment.
When the amount of Rs 591.09 crore released as reported by The Morung Express and the amount of Rs 597.68 crore released as revealed by ACAUT are added, the total amount comes to more than Rs 1188 crore as mentioned by ACAUT. These amounts are as per release orders of the State Finance Department, Expenditure ‘B’ Branch.
Keeping in mind that the NSVDBA had quoted sanction orders issued by the Central Government, it appears that the State Government released more than the actual amount sanctioned by the Centre.
The sanctioned amounts of Rs 73.74 crore, dated 21/04/2016 and Rs 59.20 crore, dated 19/05/2016 as quoted by NSVDBA, matches with the amounts released by the State Finance Department dated October 7, 2016 and September 22, 2016 respectively.
However, it has come to light that more funds have been sanctioned by the Centre if the sanction amount of Rs 368.57 crore dated 07/04/2016 as quoted by NSVDBA is to be taken into account since neither The Morung Express nor ACAUT was aware of this particular amount being sanctioned. Whether the State Finance Department has released this particular amount sanctioned by the Centre is yet to be known.
With this additional information of Rs 368.57 crore being sanctioned by the Centre under MGNREGA, the total amount so far comes to Rs 1557.36 crore (Rs 1188.79 + Rs 368.57) sanctioned for the year 2016-17.
Rs 146.73 cr released in May 2017
Meanwhile the State Finance Department, Expenditure ‘B’ Branch has released Rs 146, 73, 68, 000/- (Rupees One Hundred Forty Six Crore Seventy Three Lakh Sixty Eight Thousand) vide NO/EXPDR-B/42/2017-18/HY/101 dated May 29, 2017. The amount was released as “the 1st instalment of tranche 1 for implementation of the MGNREGA during 2017-18.”
