1. Jairam Ramesh criticizes Modi’s approach to North East, citing the underutilization of funds.
2. Budget announcements don’t align with actual fund utilization, according to Ramesh.
3. Ramesh highlights consistent discrepancy in allocated budgets and their utilization in the region.
New Delhi, April 13: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticized the Modi Government’s approach to the North East, alleging a consistent pattern of underutilization of allocated funds.
Despite substantial budget announcements for the region, Ramesh highlighted the discrepancy between the allocated budgets and their actual utilization.
Since 2014, Ramesh claimed that the full budget for the North East has been utilized only twice, contrasting with the UPA government’s reported consistent utilization of around 90% of the budget.
For the fiscal year 2023, although a budget of Rs. 2755 crores was allocated, a CGA report in June 2023 revealed that only Rs 989 crore (35.9%) was utilized, according to Jairam Ramesh.
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Moreover, in 2020-21, fund utilization was reported to be only 52% for the North East Road Sector Development Scheme and 34% for the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme.
Ramesh raised concerns about the PM-DevINE scheme, which has a substantial outlay of Rs. 6,600 crores from 2022-23 to 2025-26, stating that only over 10% of the funds (Rs. 855.85 crores) have been sanctioned thus far.
Additionally, despite doubling the budget for the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region before the elections in Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Tripura in January 2023, Ramesh pointed out a potential discrepancy between announced allocations and actual fund disbursement.
