Friday, 27 August 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
CAG recommends liquidation of inactive SPSEs & pulls up govt departments for surrendering Rs 259 crore on the last day of financial year.
In a serious indictment of its functioning the Comptroller and Auditor General (GAG) of India has found that the Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited (UPCL) has incurred a loss of Rs 577.31 crore in the year 2019-20. The loss by the UPCL accounts for a lion’s share in the total loss of Rs 634.24 crore incurred by the 13 State Public Sector Enterprises (SPSE). In its state finances audit report for the year ending March 2020, the CAG report tabled in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday revealed that the losses incurred by the 13 SPSEs was Rs 634.24 crore in the year 2019-20 while in the year 2018-19 there were 16 loss making units with total loss of Rs 693.24 crore. Similarly 13 SPESs incurred a loss of Rs 371.62 crore in the year 2017-18.
There are 30 SPSEs in Uttarakhand which includes three statutory corporations. Out of these 30 enterprises there are eight inactive SPSEs which are non functional from the last eight to 33 years.
In his recommendation, the Principal Accountant General (audit) of Uttarakhand, S Alok said that the inactive SPSEs are neither contributing to the state economy nor meeting the intended objective. He said that the state government needs to take a decision regarding commencement of the liquidation process in respect of inactive SPSEs. The CAG in its report observed that the SPSEs are not submitting their financial statements as per the companies act, 2013.
In other observations the CAG found that the different departments surrendered Rs 259 crore on the last working day of the financial year leaving no scope for utilisation of these funds for other development projects.
The CAG in its report mentioned that the revenue receipts of Uttarakhand decreased by Rs 493 crore in the year 2019-20 over the previous year. It said that the percentage of Own Tax Revenue receipts has shown a steady decline from 44.16 during 2015-16 to 37.47 during the financial year 2019-20.
