Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday directed departments to accelerate the pace of capital expenditure (CAPEX) and ensure timely utilisation of funds.
The chief minister chaired a high-level review meeting on CAPEX at the Civil Secretariat here and directed all departments to significantly accelerate the pace of expenditure, emphasising that timely utilisation of available funds is critical for infrastructure development, public service delivery and sustained economic growth, an official spokesman said.
He said Abdullah underscored the need for focused attention on departments lagging in expenditure and cautioned against the practice of delaying spending until the closing months of the financial year.
“To have money and not spend it is incompetence. This is very difficult to justify. Not having money is easier to explain, but it is impossible to explain when funds are available and remain unutilised,” the chief minister said while addressing the meeting.
He said the review was intentionally convened at the beginning of the financial cycle rather than towards the end of the year so that corrective measures could be taken in time and departments could utilise the remaining working season effectively.
“There is still ample working season available in both the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu plains. There should be no reason why funds already released are not spent appropriately. Every department must give this focused attention,” he said.
Reviewing the implementation of the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI), the chief minister directed departments to ensure full utilisation of allocations under the scheme, warning that any unspent amount during the current financial year would reduce Jammu and Kashmir’s allocation in the next fiscal.
Abdullah stressed that every rupee available under SASCI Part-I must be utilised and instructed departments to identify eligible projects without delay.
The chief minister also directed ministers to personally review reform-linked targets under the scheme on a fortnightly basis so that Jammu and Kashmir could qualify for additional financial assistance under the reform component of SASCI.
“The earlier we implement the specified reforms, the sooner we receive additional funds and the more time we will have to utilise them productively,” he said.
The chief minister asked departments to immediately begin work on projects where administrative approvals and tendering had already been completed, saying that such projects could initially be funded through the CAPEX budget and later shifted to the reform-linked component of SASCI once additional funds become available.
He directed departments to prepare a robust pipeline of projects for the next financial year instead of waiting for funding before identifying development works.
Expressing concern over the inability of some departments to identify projects despite the availability of financial resources, the chief minister remarked that the government’s challenge had shifted from shortage of funds to inadequate project preparedness.
He advised departments to revisit the development priorities submitted by MLAs during the Budget consultations and utilise proposals, particularly projects exceeding the Rs 2 crore threshold, for inclusion under future SASCI funding.
Abdullah also instructed departments to initiate administrative approvals and other statutory formalities well in advance so that projects for the 2027-28 financial year remain implementation-ready as soon as funds are sanctioned.
Highlighting the need to improve expenditure under centrally sponsored schemes, the chief minister directed departments to closely monitor utilisation levels and ensure that funds released under all development programmes are spent efficiently and within stipulated timelines.
He also took note of suggestions made by ministers regarding simplification and streamlining of the tendering process and directed the concerned departments to evolve an appropriate mechanism to make procurement procedures more efficient while maintaining transparency and accountability.
Expressing confidence that departments would respond with urgency, the chief minister said the next review would assess tangible improvements in expenditure performance across sectors.
