Bihar’s wait for Central fund to execute infra projects lingers on

According to officials, as many as seven departments, including road construction, energy, health, water resources, industries, rural workers department, and science & tech departments, have been waiting for their allocated funds to the tune of ₹8046 crores to carry out their pending works.

PATNA: Procedural delays in releasing funds received from the Centre have thrown a spanner in the execution of many key infrastructure projects of various departments in the state, officials familiar with the development said.

The major projects waiting for finance, include the construction of new premises of PMCH. (HT Photo)

According to officials, as many as seven departments, including road construction, energy, health, water resources, industries, rural workers department, and science & tech departments, have been waiting for their allocated funds to the tune of ₹8046 crores to carry out their pending works.

The Central government in April this year had announced special assistance of ₹1 lakh crore to state governments to help them tide over the revenue crunch as the fall out of the Covid-19 pandemic and help them carry on with the capital investments in the duly approved projects in 2022-23 fiscal. The assistance is being provided to the states as interest-free loans to be returned in the next 50 years.

A senior officer of the finance department, who is familiar with the matter, said that the state government started submitting the proposals under the set guidelines to the Centre in July and August in three batches. “While the proposals of energy, industries, road, rural works, water resources, health, science, and technology departments were approved by the Centre, we are still waiting for the funds,” said the officer, adding that a reminder would be sent to the Union finance ministry soon.

The major projects waiting for finance, include the construction of new premises of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Patna ring road, Danapur-Bihta elevated road corridor, construction of a four-lane bridge on river Ganga in Patna, logistics park in Gaya, engineering and medical colleges, revamping of domestic power supply network, etc. “Roads and logistics parks proposals have been stuck up for want of land acquisition,” said an executive officer of the road construction department (RCD).

Officials said that proposals worth ₹ 1,858.26 crores of RCD, ₹1,687.78 crores of energy, ₹1,413.88 crores of health, ₹950 crores of water resources, ₹887.95 crores of industries, ₹778.58 crores of rural works department and ₹469.54 crores of science and technology department had been sent to and approved for financing by the Central government.

“The assistance is being provided from the first lot of ₹80,000 crore fund allocated by the Centre under the special assistance, while the rest ₹20,000 crores would be disbursed in the next seven-eight installments later this year. Proposals worth ₹200 crores from Bihar have also been sent to the Centre for assistance under the head at later stages,” said the official, adding that the state is getting the share in funds as per the norms devolution, which accounts for around 10.058% in the sum.

Additional chief secretary, finance, S Siddharth said that the fund would be released to the concerned departments once it reached the state.