New Delhi: The Bihar director of the midday meal scheme returned Rs 462.78 crore to the Centre because he was unable to spend it. The money was allotted between 2006-07 and 2009-10, and probably lay idle in banks till early 2012.
A senior official who was aware of the transaction said that the refund by states to the Centre was very surprising and “unusual” in this particular case.
Sources said that auditor had raised a red flag over Bihar’s practice of sitting on money, the state government decided to return the money to the centre which was meant for various scheme, kept in fixed deposits and other banking instruments.
Surprising one side the government of Bihar had returned such a big amount of mid day meal scheme and on other hand the irregularization of the scheme made a district of Bihar to burn. Several students died in Chhapra district due to contaminated food which causes so many problems to government of Bihar and all opposition is raising this issue.
The state government seems to have also had a lackadaisical approach towards spending in the education sector, according to details available of funds meant for other education schemes. A case in point: Rs 206.98 crore belonging to Bihar Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (BMSP) and Bihar State Education Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited was lying in bank accounts till as late as March 2012. The BMSP also had Rs 41.76 crore lying in other bank accounts. The BMSP (secondary wing) had Rs 85.75 crore lying idle in its accounts as of March 2012.
Bureau Report
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