Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday gave a dressing down to Social Welfare Department officials for not spending funds allocated to them under various schemes. He also ordered issuing show cause notices to officers and suspending them if they failed to provide a proper explanation for not spending funds.
"If you cannot spend the funds released for the welfare of the poor and the eligible beneficiaries, what for you are here then? You have developed a bad habit of spending funds only at the fag end of the financial year. This cannot be tolerated anymore," he warned.
During a review of the progress achieved by the Social Welfare Department on Tuesday, the Chief Minister got angry after knowing that only Rs 2,892 crore was spent out of Rs 3,631 crore released till December end. He also highlighted the huge unspent funds pending with the Dr BR Ambedkar Development Corporation (Rs 900 crore) and the Karnataka Bhovi Development Corporation (Rs 107 crore ) and asked Chief Secretary Shalini Rajaneesh to issue notices to the Managing Directors of these Corporations.
"Henceforth, MDs, who fail to spend the allocated funds, will face immediate suspension," he warned. He also noted that out of Rs 164 crore allocated for Pre-Matric scholarships, only Rs 105 crore was spent till December end. “From now onwards, Pre-Matric scholarships must be disbursed by September and post-matric scholarships by November every year,” he ordered.
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