MHA asks paramilitary forces to prioritise schemes

New Delhi: Expressing concern over “unrealistic” budget estimates and some funds not being “fully utilised”, the Union Home Ministry has asked paramilitary forces and other organisations to prioritise schemes and make implementation of new projects time-bound.

In a circular, the ministry said time and again, it has been observed during audits and by the public accounts committee that the budget estimates and revised estimates are “unrealistic” and the supplementary demands obtained from Parliament have not been “fully utilised”.

Besides, re-appropriation of funds are made at will which is often “infructuous”, it said.

The ministry said in order to avoid such a scenario, while review or firming up of proposals for revised estimates for 2018-19 and budget estimates for 2019-20, schemes should be prioritised.

It asked officials to identify such activity or scheme that can be eliminated, reduced in size and merged with any other project.

Past experience of achieving targets (both physical and financial) and bottlenecks, if any, should be taken into account and a thorough assessment of ground realities at the field level should be undertaken to arrive at accurate projections in all cases, the circular said.

The Home Ministry also said in case of new and recent projects or schemes, the anticipated time to obtain final approval of the competent authority, the expected time lag for implementation, institutional capacity to implement as per schedule, constraints on incurring expenditure by the agencies should be made factors.

It may be ensured that grant-wise separate proposals are sent in respect of items included in more than one grant, it said.