36% budget for N-E Dept not utilised in 2025-26: Parl panel

During a recent meeting of the committee, several lawmakers questioned Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan over the unutilised funds of the department.

According to sources privy to details, they have also written to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs Chairman Radha Mohan Das Agarwal (a BJP Rajya Sabha MP), to raise the issue.

Many Opposition MPs are said to have asked the Home Secretary why funds were not spent in the troubled state of Manipur and alleged that the government was ‘ignoring’ the state, which has suffered significantly in the past three years due to ethnic violence.

According to the details available with The Tribune, while 36 per cent of the DoNER Budget remained unutilised, 41 per cent of the Budget had remained unspent in 2024-25 as well.

Expressing serious concern on the issue, panel members noted that such persistent underspending undermined the developmental objectives in one of India’s strategically sensitive and economically vulnerable regions.

Several committee members also highlighted that the Centre's flagship PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, which was launched in February 2024 to incentivise rooftop solar installations, remained unevenly implemented in the North-East.

Of the three lakh households to be covered across eight N-E states under the scheme, only one-fourth of the households have been covered so far. It was also pointed out to the Home Secretary.

Sources further said several members of the committee, including BJP MPs, have reportedly proposed to hand over their concerns in writing to the Home Ministry.