By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 28 May: The Chief Minister’s Office has written to departments reminding them to furnish utilisation certificates for expenditure incurred from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund during the Covid-19 pandemic. It may be pointed out here that despite repeated reminders over the past five years, several departments have failed to submit records of how the allocated budget was spent, creating difficulties in preparing final accounts of the relief fund.
It may be recalled that during the pandemic, crores of rupees were released from the relief fund to different departments for emergency measures such as transporting stranded travellers, running vaccination drives, setting up temporary hospitals and assisting vulnerable groups. However, many of these expenditures remain unaccounted for in official records. The Transport Department, which had received nearly Rs 24 crores for arranging transport during lockdowns, is yet to provide its utilisation certificate. Similarly, the Health Department had been sanctioned about Rs 130 crores for free vaccination of the 18–44 age group and for temporary Covid hospitals. Of this, Rs 70 crores had returned and certificates for Rs 10 crores expenditure were submitted, but the balance of nearly Rs 50 crores remains unverified. The Justice Department too has not submitted certificates for Rs 60 lakhs released to the Bar Council of Uttarakhand for assistance to advocates.
The CMO’s letters also pointed out that repeated correspondence has failed to elicit serious due action from departments, raising questions about accountability. Financial rules require departments to issue utilisation certificates to confirm that government funds were spent for approved purposes, and delays can affect future budgetary allocations. The prolonged pendency of these certificates highlights administrative lapses and weak monitoring mechanisms.
With crores of rupees of public money still unaccounted for years after the pandemic, concerns have been raised about transparency and responsibility within the system. The CMO has reiterated its demand for early submission of certificates, but questions remain over whether any action has been taken against officials who ignored repeated directives.
