Budget allocations for Tourism sector are usually unutilized year after year
PRAVASISAMWAD.COM
India’s tourism budget are usually unutilized. And, this has been happening year after year. In a report, ETTravelWorld pointed out that the gap between the budget allocation at the beginning of the financial year and what was actually utilised at the final review was “getting wider and wider year on year”. The report went on to mention that in the last few years, the gap has widened even more.
Estimates at the beginning of the financial year, which are presented and approved at the time of the annual budget, promise a lot but all that is only on paper. In the final review, the amount utilized is between 35 to 50 per cent at the end of the financial year.
ETTravelWorld analysed the revised estimates for the Tourism Ministry in the last three years and found the gap. In 2019-20, the revised estimates were 35 per cent (INR 1416 crore of INR 2,189 crore) lower than the budget estimates. In 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively, it was 56 per cent (INR 1,096 of INR 2,499 crore) and around 52 per cent (INR 969 crore of INR 2,026 crore) lower.
This was not the case in earlier years. The budget allocation and the utilisation were quite balanced. Interestingly, there were years when the revised estimates exceeded by a few crores as well. In 2016-17 financial year, the estimated budget for Tourism was INR 1,590 crore, when the actual spending was INR 1,670 crore.
Quoting former senior bureaucrats who know how funds are utilised, the major reasons for budgets going unutilised are broadly related to two heads: the lost focus on the Overseas promotions and marketing, and the delay and the lapses on the timely execution and clearances of flagship programmes of the Ministry like Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD.
A major share of the budget for the Tourism Ministry is for tourism infrastructure creation under the flagship programmes of Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD scheme. In the 2022-23 budget proposal also, almost 50 per cent of the total allocation, i.e., INR 1,181 crore, was for projects funding under the Swadesh Darshan scheme. When other centrally funded projects like PRASHAD, etc., were added, the share went up to the range of 65 per cent to 70 per cent of the total estimated budget.
One major reason for funds going unspent was the near-total standstill in the overseas marketing and promotion activities of the government in the last few years. Half of the overseas offices have been closed down permanently and even those offices which were functional were not manned properly
The sanctioning of the funds for the approved projects was on the utilisation certificate of the funds granted earlier. In many instances, in the absence of the utilisation certificate coming as per the time frame from the states, the funds went unutilised.
As per the guidelines, on the centrally funded projects, 50 per cent of the funds are sanctioned with the approval of the project, and the next tranche of 30 per cent is issued after receiving the utilisation certificate of the first 50 per cent. The final 20 per cent is released only on the final utilisation report from the state concerned.
In spite of regular follow-up on the part of the central ministry, the projects get delayed in the states which results in a delay in submitting the utilization certificate and releasing the remaining tranche of funds.
In one of the reports this year, the Standing Committee on Tourism has sought explanation on the slow pace of the Swadesh Darshan Scheme projects in the country, saying that the achievements were not remarkable. The committee had asked for speedy implementation of the projects.
As per the official records, of the 76 projects sanctioned since January 2015 under 13 identified circuits, till November 2021, only 16 were “physically complete” and about 30 were 80 per cent or more complete. And in the case of PRASAD, of the 37 projects approved since 2014-15, 17 were completed, with three more expected to be completed by the end of the 2021-22 financial year.
Another major reason for funds going unspent was the near-total standstill in the overseas marketing and promotion activities of the government in the last few years. Half of the overseas offices have been closed down permanently and even those offices which were functional were not manned properly.
************************************************************************
Readers