Even as the Ashok Chavan government sought financial aid of Rs 15,000 crore from the Central government to tide over the present scarcity situation, the Union agriculture ministry came down heavily on the state government for not spending Rs 446 crore at its disposal for various agricultural schemes. A central team is visiting the state to assess the drought situation.

In a letter written by the Union Agriculture secretary T Nanda Kumar to the state government, the central government has asked the state to immediately utilise the available funds.

The letter received by the state on August 25 stated, “During the current financial year (2009-10), monsoon has been deficient and not well spread out and many districts/ states are facing a drought situation. During this hour of crisis, in order to mitigate the hardships of the farmer community, it is all the more essential that all available resources are pooled together, to ensure that all available unspent balances, under different schemes are immediately utilised in the implementation of schemes.”

The letter has pointed out, “It may be observed that the expenditure has lagged behind releases from the Central government to a great extent which requires immediate attention.”

As per the letter, the unspent balance with the state government in respect of major schemes of agriculture is Rs 203.13 crore in the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Rs 65.99 crore in the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Rs 90.86 crore in the National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Rs 81.14 crore in the Macro Management of Agriculture, and Rs 5.64 crore in the Support to State Extension Services. The total unspent balance is Rs 446.76 crore.

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