Lok Sabha Question No. 6166 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-04-04
Subject: Unspent Funds under NLCPR
Ministry: DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION
Asked by: Tejpratap Singh,Yadav, ANJU BALA, B. SREERAMULU

Government of India

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region

## LOK SABHA

Unstarred Question No. 6166

To be answered on

Wednesday, April 4, 2018/Chaitra 14, 1940 (Saka)

## Question

## Unspent Funds under NLCPR

6166.  SHRI TEJ PRATAP SINGH YADAV: SHRIMATI ANJU BALA: SHRI B. SRIRAMULU:

Will the Minister of DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether a large amount of funds are lying unspent under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) scheme;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor, State-wise;
- (c) whether the Government has formulated any new policy/scheme to make funds available for projects critical to the development of North-Eastern States;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has formulated any monitoring mechanism for tracking the implementation of the NLCPR scheme; and
- (f)      if  so,  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  towards  effective  and  timely implementation of the schemes?

## ANSWER

## The Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region [Dr. Jitendra Singh]

(a) and (b) As  on  31.12.2017,  a  sum  of  Rs.1444.01  crore  are  lying  unspent  under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) scheme of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region. This includes releases during 2016-17 and 2017-18 for which utilisation  certificates  are  not  yet  due.  The  main  reason  for  delay  in  submission  of Utilisation  Certificates  is  inability  of  States  for  faster  absorption  of  funds  due  to  short working season.

The State-wise details of unspent balance lying with the States are as under:-

(Rs. in crore)

| State             |   Unspent balance with States (up to 31.12.2017) |   UC due (up to 31.12.2017) |
|-------------------|--------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
| Arunachal Pradesh |                                           221.98 |                       40.21 |
| Assam             |                                           372.83 |                      108.51 |
| Manipur           |                                           242.42 |                       10.95 |
| Meghalaya         |                                           182.3  |                       20.47 |
| Mizoram           |                                           127.2  |                       40.85 |
| Nagaland          |                                           105.27 |                       16.18 |
| Sikkim            |                                            85.16 |                        0    |
| Tripura           |                                           106.85 |                        0    |
| Total             |                                          1444.01 |                      237.17 |

(c) and (d) Government has recently approved a new scheme ' North  East  Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) ' at a cost of Rs. 1600.00 crore, for a period  of  three  years  from  the  FY  2017-18  to  2019-20.  The  scheme  is  aimed  at financing projects to fill up the gap in creation of physical infrastructure relating to water supply,  power,  connectivity  and  specially  the  projects  promoting  tourism;  and  social sector projects relating to creation of infrastructure for education and health.

(e) and (f) Yes, Madam. A monitoring mechanism for tracking the implementation of the NLCPR  scheme  is in place. The Ministry has an online e-Portal/Project Management  System  for  submission,  surveillance  and  follow  up  of  NLCPR  projects. The portal helps in keeping surveillance on financial, physical and visual progress for timely  completion  of  projects.  Further,  there  is  constant  review  of  the  progress  of utilization of funds with the State Governments at all levels, including visits by the senior officials to the States and the Ministry is in constant touch with the officials concerned of the State Governments through video-conferencing and other IT tools like WhatsApp, SMSes and  E-mails.  Measures  taken  also  include  sanction  of  token  release  of  only Rs.10 lakh and the remaining release just-in-time after work order is issued apart from review at various levels and extensive use of Information Technology (IT) tools.

*****