STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: After noticing that a significant amount of the ‘Untied Fund’ has been lying unutilized, the Transformation and Development (T&D) Department of the State government has directed the deputy commissioners (DCs) having large amounts of the sanctioned but unutilized ‘Untied Fund’ to hand over such idle money to the Department concerned. With respect to important schemes that might be affected following such “surrender” of the money, the T&D department would re-sanction the required amount at an appropriate time, sources informed The Sentinel.
The objective behind the ‘Untied Fund’ is to encourage districts or sub-divisions to plan some schemes in their discretion at their respective areas. This is an earmarked fund for the purpose of encouraging ‘Local Level Planning’. The schemes under ‘Untied Fund’ should be of local nature for asset creation.
The T&D department was earlier known as the ‘Planning and Development Department’.
After the BJP-led government came to power in Assam in 2016, an amount of Rs 50 lakh under Untied Fund is being sanctioned in each fiscal for each Assembly constituency. However, submission of utilization certificates (UCs) against such sanctioned amount has been rather poor from some of the deputy commissioners, sources said, adding that consequently, the UCs could not be submitted to the Accountant General (AG).