J&K government has failed to submit utilisation certificates (UCs) within specified period under central government’s “assistance to states for modernization of police” scheme.
The J&K Police under the modernization programme is required to improve capabilities and infrastructure to deal with the threats thrown by the law and order situations and the insurgency in the state.
As per the information shared by the police modernisation division of the union home ministry in response to an RTI application by Raman Sharma, “during 2014-15 to 2017-18 an amount of Rs 223 crore has been released under the police modernization scheme to the state.”
“The utilization certificates amounting to Rs 57.48 crore, however, are pending from the J&K government for the last 5 years,” the response states.
The state home department has even failed to submit UCs pertaining to financial years 2014-15 to 2017-18.
It is pertinent to mention here that under the scheme, the states have been grouped into category ‘A’ and category ‘B’ for the purpose of funding.
J&K falls in category ‘A’ and is entitled to 90 per cent financial assistance from the centre and 10 per cent it has to contribute from its own funds. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other North-East States also fall in category A.
The rest of the states have been put in category ‘B’. These states are provided funds in the ratio of 60:40, with 60 per cent share coming from the central government.
The non-submission of the utilisation certificates in time, as per the scheme, renders unable the defaulting state from getting further funds from the MHA.
The non-submission of the utilisation certificate by the J&K Government has resulted in “drastic reduction in funding under Border Area Development Program by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs,” sources said.
Top officials in police department said that during some previous meetings they had discussed a proposal of procurement of equipment for high end security and law and order under the PM’s special package for J&K.