Karnataka delaying submitting utilisation certificate: Centre

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Friday expressed his unhappiness over Karnataka for the delay in submitting fund utilisation certificates related to centrally sponsored schemes - particularly in case of programmes related to agriculture and minor irrigation.

When Karnataka Law Minister T B Jayachandra met the Union Agriculture Minister here to seek funds under centrally sponsored agriculture and minor irrigation schemes, Singh bluntly said that the Centre had not received the fund utilisation certificates for spending money sanctioned in 2015-2016 while most of the states have submitted same long back.

The Union minister also reportedly said the Centre had also not received utilisation certificates for spending money under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), sources in the Ministry of Agriculture told Deccan Herald.

On Jayachandra’s request to sanction fund under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), Singh said that as per the scheme guidelines, out of the total share, the beneficiary state had to make 50% matching grant while the Centre gives the remaining 50%. Karnataka must make required share, he said.

Though the Centre had sanctioned Rs 18.67 crore under PMKSY in 2015-16, the state has not submitted the utilisation certificate so far, Singh said adding that money was not an issue and the Centre wants the money to be utilised properly.

The primary objectives of PMKSY are to attract investments in irrigation system at field level, develop and expand cultivable land in the country.

Admitting the delay on the part of the Karnataka government in submitting utilisation certificates, Jayachandra told reporters that he would take up the matter with the officials of the departments concerned immediately.
DH News Service