In Phailin hit year Odisha spent only 39 % fund from NRDWP 'natural calamity' fund

In a year in which Odisha faced a Very Severe Cyclone and multiple major floods, Odisha government could spend less than 39 percent of fund it had under ‘natural calamity’ head of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). The NRDWP is the flagship programme for rural drinking water supply. The NRDWP earmarks five percent of the total fund under ‘natural calamity’ head. As per NRDWP guideline this fund is used ‘to mitigate drinking water problems in the rural areas in the wake of natural calamities’.

In a review meeting held at New Delhi between the officials of the Central and State government on March 13, 2014 the Central government officials observed that ‘… the expenditure under “calamity” is very poor…”.  Odisha had 384.68 Crore rupees under the ‘calamity’ head for financial year 2013-14. But till March 12, 2014 – with only 18 days left in that financial year – Odisha government had spent only 148.91 Crore rupees, which is less than 39 percent of the fund it had.

While such gross under utilisation of available fund by Odisha government belies all logic; when seen along with the Phailin memorandum that Odisha government submitted to the Central government, the information that we get is quite baffling. 

The state government’s Phailin memorandum, submitted to the Central government on October 21, 2013, mentioned that ‘3040 numbers of rural pipe water supply system and 162,170 numbers of tubewells have been damaged / submerged in the rural areas due to cyclone and flood.’ Through the memorandum, Government of Odisha had placed a demand of Rs 27.60 Crore rupees for ‘immediate repair’. The irony is that in the same paragraph of the memorandum government of Odisha had stated that only ‘Rs 68 lakh is available in the related scheme for the above purpose.’

Both the statistics about available fund cannot be true at the same time. One shows that Odisha government had a lot of money under NRDWP’s ‘natural calamity’ head which it miserably failed to utilise. The other shows that the state had barely any money to restore damaged rural water supply provisions after the cyclone and flood.

People have a right to know about the real status and government has an obligation to keep track of its funds. Even in normal times, Odisha’s rural water supply standards compare very poorly with that of advanced states of the country. In the year 2013-14 it faced a series of natural disasters. Yet the state government so miserly spent the money it had.

We have every right to demand fixation of strict accountability.