Srinagar, May 18: In a glaring instance of official inefficiency, around Rs 379 crore have remained unutilized under Centre’s flagship program for universalization of Elementary Education – Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) – and other two programs in Jammu and Kashmir during fiscal year 2010-11.
The documents in possession of Greater Kashmir put question mark on the claims of JK government about utilizing the money pumped by the Centre for upgrade of facilities for education in the state.
“Rs 379 crore has remained as actual unutilized at the end of the year which will be adjusted towards the Grant-in-Aid payable during the next year 2011-12,” the audit statement reads.
According to the details, Rs 323 crore were unspent under SSA, while Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 54 crore remained unutilized under National Program for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyala (KGBV) respectively.
As per the documents, Rs 1600 crore were at the disposal of State Project Director SSA for undertaking SSA, NEPGEL and KGBV in JK during 2010-11, but utilization certificates were submitted of only Rs 600 crore to the auditor. The remaining excluding original unspent balance has been categorized as “less outstanding advance” as their utilization certificates were awaited from implementing agencies.
According to the audit statement, less outstanding advance will be adjusted based on the expenditure/ utilization certificates submitted by implementing agencies.
Officials of state Education department told Greater Kashmir that poor planning is primary reason for poor implementation of SSA in J&K.
“Although implementation of the any scheme needs proper planning but the state government has miserably failed to formulate proper plans for implementing SSA thereby resulting in non-utilization of the funds,” they said, adding that five year plans under the program have not been formulated.
“Although there are 36 components under the program, but funds are spent under 5-6 components and even there is no desired achievements under them. Not only this, the funds are not utilized for activities like survey etc,” they said.
“The achievements on upgrade of primary schools and conversion of Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) centers have not been much encouraging in the state,” they said, adding “Even the funds are released at the fag end of the year under the scheme.”
An official wishing anonymity said that while thousands of students are suffering due to want of infrastructure and teachers in government schools, the non-utilization of funds under SSA has put question mark on efficiency of state government.
“The non-utilization has underscored the need for proper monitoring so that funds are expended within time,” he said.
When contacted, Project Director of SSA, Yasha Mudgal, said that unspent funds mostly pertains to salary component of teachers.
“Since the appointment of teachers is going on, so these funds remained unspent,” Mudgal said.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
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