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The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said Haryana spent only Rs 9,624.44 crore against its proposed expenditure of Rs 10,400 crore for the annual plan 2009-10.
The CAG in its audit report for 2009-10 said the State left out expenditure worth Rs 775.56 crore unspent on major planned schemes.
The huge gap between proposed expenditure and actual expenditure for year 2009-10 was due to various reasons, including non-implementation of schemes, transfer of funds to other schemes, non-approval of projects and delay in approval of action plan, the report added.
Haryana proposed annual Plan of Rs 10,000 crore for 2009-10, which was later revised to Rs 10,400 crore. The planned spending was 46.31 per cent more than the previous annual Plan expenditure of Rs 7,108 crore.
The matter assumes significance as Congress-led Haryana government has been harping on setting bigger annual plans in its regime aimed to raise spending on development schemes for the overall benefit of the State.
Pointing out shortcomings in plan estimates, CAG said the State completely failed in spending money to the tune of Rs 524.21 crore on 79 planned schemes.
The major casualty of lack of spending turned out to be the power sector to which the state accords top priority.
The government did not spend a single penny against the proposed expenditure of Rs 103.71 crore meant for the gas-based plant coming up at Faridabad, Rs 170.25 crore for extension of Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal power plant and Rs 21 crore for Panipat power plant, the report said.
Notably, the Atate has been battling huge power shortage in peak seasons due to wide gap between demand and supply of energy.
CAG further said the State failed in carrying out expenditure of Rs 147.73 crore on 35 schemes, including power, animal husbandry, Panchayats, urban development, labour, etc.
CAG also found glaring shortcomings in budgetary assumptions made by the state government during the unveiling of budget as “unrealistic”. The report found the state's VAT collections was proposed to grow at 16.53 per cent in 2009-10 but it actually decreased by 5.70 per cent.
Another budgetary provision of the state remained off base when the non-tax revenue from urban development remained just Rs 133.70 crore, against the budgeted estimation of Rs 1,200 crore, CAG said.
The State underestimated the impact of recession on real estate market by providing for higher projections, it added.
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