There were 1,110 utilisation certificates still yet to be received for almost Rs 4,300 crore worth of government grants, with the Education Department the major defaulter, by the end of 2018-19, the State Finances Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed.
“In the absence of UCs, it could not be ascertained whether the recipients had utilized the grants for the purposes for which they were disbursed. Huge pendency in submission of UCs is fraught with the risk of fraud and misappropriation of funds,” the CAG warned.
Of the Rs 4,299.61 crore, the Education Department had yet to submit UCs for Rs 1,757.25 crore in grants by the end of that financial year, which was more than 40 percent of the total.
Meanwhile, the CAG pointed out that tax collected to benefit construction workers is sitting in a bank account instead of being utilized as was originally intended.
A labour cess collected since the inception of the Meghalaya Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board in 2009 totaled Rs 137.3 crore by the end of 2018-19 but only Rs 4.15 crore, or 3 percent, had been spent.
“Less utilization of the cess amounts indicated that the welfare measures for workers were not being undertaken at a scale as envisaged in the Meghalaya Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Act,” the report said.
