Rs 402 crore of original budget not returned
Questions raised even on Rs 300 crore lying idle
State Bureau, Lucknow. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has raised serious questions on the functioning of the Vocational Education Department. According to the report of 2024-25 presented in both the Houses of the Legislature, the department was grossly negligent in the implementation of the schemes and did not fully utilize the approved budget.
The remaining amount of Rs 402.24 crore of the original budget was not returned to the Finance Department on time, which the CAG considered a violation of financial discipline.
Not only this, the department also unnecessarily took a supplementary grant of Rs 300 crore in July 2024, but the already available amount could not be spent. This entire amount remained idle with the department, leading to misuse of government resources.
The plan-wise expenditure situation has also been described as worrying in the CAG report. Against the budget of Rs 26 crore, only Rs 16.75 crore was spent on the artisan training scheme. Out of the Rs 1 crore sanctioned for opening two mega government ITIs in the state, not a single rupee was utilized.
Similarly, out of the budget of Rs 70 crore, only Rs 1.49 crore was spent in the Chief Minister Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme. It has also been said in the report that not returning the money to the Finance Department on time and keeping huge amount stuck in taking supplementary grant shows departmental negligence.