Centre to audit states’ spend to give drought aid

New Delhi: Even as the country stares at a searing summer and a drought scare looms large in many states, the Centre has decided to disburse drought relief funds to the affected states only after a stock taking of how much money allocated to individual states in the last fiscal has been spent so far.

A top official of the ministry of agriculture told this newspaper that Central teams have been sent to all drought prone states and they are likely to submit reports by the 15th of this month.

“A decision on how much amount will be dispersed will be taken only after it is analysed as to how much the states have spent out of the funds allocated to them last fiscal,” he said.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had in its February forecast said temperatures in most parts of the country from March to May would be above normal. At least 16 states are likely to experience the heat wave and among them five southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Kerala will be badly affected.

Incidentally, the Centre has already dispersed drought relief funds to the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. While Rs 1,712.10 crore was given to Tamil Nadu for drought and cyclone relief from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), Karnataka got Rs 1,235.52 crore for drought relief.

Farmers from Tamil Nadu had been protesting for nearly 20 days in Delhi, demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre, farm loan waiver and setting up of Cauvery Management Board.

The funds were dispersed following the receipt of a detailed memoranda from these states, and inter-ministerial Central teams were deputed to visit the drought affected areas for the spot assessment of the calamity.

For the year 2016-17, a sum of Rs 6.08 lakh crore has been released to all states as devolution of Central taxes.

During the same fiscal, the Centre has also provided Rs 48,869 crore to all states as grant for rural and urban local bodies to primarily meet the requirement of  basic necessities for people living in these areas.

A total of Rs.2,45,435 crore has also been provided under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) for transfer to the States from the Central Government during 2016-17. This includes Rs. 47,499 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) which is used for employment generation and water conservation works.