Central aid for Ardh Kumbh not yet in sight

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 21

Though the Uttarakhand government has been demanding financial aid from the Centre for the conduct of the next year’s Ardh Kumbh mela in Hardiwar, the Centre has been “unresponsive”.

Government sources claimed that the Central government had deliberately adopted this strategy to check misuse of funds and ensure that the state government also spent from its pocket.

There has been a general practice to release funds for religious congregation through the Planning Commission. For the 2004 Ardh Kumbh held in Haridwar, the Uttarakhand government had received Rs 140 crore for the conduct of the fair. For the Maha Kumbh in 2009, the state government received an allocation of Rs 565 crore, but for the next year’s Ardh Kumbh mela, the Central government is yet to open its account leaving the state government high and dry.

“The Chief Minister has been pursuing the matter and several letters have been written. We have been hard pressed to cut corners so that the preparation for the Ardh Kumbh mela is not affected,” said DS Garbyal, Secretary, Urban Development, through which funds are being disbursed.

Despite recommendations by the Niti Aayog for a package of Rs 166.67 crore in the beginning of March for the next year’s Ardh Kumbh mela, the state has not received a single penny.

Recently, the Uttar Pradesh Government had received rap from the CAG for spending only 10 per cent of the money from its pocket for the mela, while a majority of funds were spent from the Centre’s share.

Further, even Uttarakhand that had played host to the Maha Kumbh congregation in 2009 was also censured by the CAG for “wasting” crores of funds on temporary works, which could not be accounted for.

According to estimates prepared by the state government, the government is expected to incur an expenditure of Rs 440 crore. So far, works amounting to Rs 328.65 crore have been approved for which funds amounting to Rs 290.26 crore have been released.

In 2016, the Uttarakhand government had demanded Rs 1,037 crore for the Ardh Kumbh mela, which was later rationalised to Rs 500 crore and in March 2015, the NITI Aayog had recommended funds amounting to Rs 166.67, which have not been released.