State STF tracks Rs 2,000 crore due to govt account: Minister

Chennai: A Special Task Force (STF), constituted by the Tamil Nadu government to reconcile, identify and access funds of government departments kept outside the Treasury, has tracked nearly Rs 2,000 crore that can be remitted back to government account, State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said on Monday.

The STF was set up in line with a budgetary announcement made earlier this year by him. "The monies that have been shown as spent in the accounts of the State are actually in some other accounts...this has been mentioned in the past CAG reports as well... whether they are spent or not, we posted a special team (to find that out)," he told reporters here.

"Multiple data points indicate that government funds are often shifted to accounts outside the view of the Treasury system. Upon assuming office, this government initiated a dual–track survey to identify such funds through government department and agencies and by banks holding such accounts. The initial assessment reveals substantial unutilised funds," he further said in a statement, quoting from his budget speech on the need for such a task force.

The "Special Task Force was constituted to reconcile, identify and access the funds of the government departments, government-run societies, statutory institutions (and) local bodies kept outside the Treasury, within a particular timeframe," he added.

The details of bank accounts wherein the government money was parked as on March 31, 2021 were collected from multiple sources like banks, district collectors, government departments and other quasi-governmental entities.

Further, it conducted several meetings with government departments and State-level Bankers Committee so as to build a reliable database for the purpose, he said.

"The Special Task Force has collected and collated information broadly under the categories of 'Available balances', 'Liabilities' and 'to be remitted into Government account', separately under each of the closed schemes, ongoing Schemes and receipts of the department." "By this process, from the data so far collected, the Special Task Force has tracked a sum of Rs 1,946.31 crore that can be immediately remitted back to the government account," he said.

Further, it is important to put in place a mechanism to prevent the recurrence of such instances of idle non-utilisation of funds in the future.

Towards this end, the direct disbursal of funds from the government treasury to the ultimate beneficiaries –pensioners, government servants receiving salaries, old age pensioners, recipients of scholarships and of final payments for works and supply of goods and services through the Integrated Financial and Human Resources Management System (IFHRMS) will ensure that there is no idling of funds of a substantial portion of the budget, he added.