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Audit flags NYC’s Rs. 538 million spend on non-priority programmes
View(s):The National Youth Services Council spent Rs. 538.79 million to implement six programmes from January to August last year, though they were not related to the priority tasks, an audit inquiry has found.
The six flagged programmes were: The Smart Youth New Year Festival, the National Youth Vesak Festival, the National Youth Poson Zone, Tharuna Hamuwa, the 31st Night Youth Celebration and the Smart Youth Exhibitions and Musical Show.
None of these programmes had been related to NYC’s priority tasks, nor had they been included in its Annual Action Plan, according to the special audit report on the formality and effectiveness of the programmes implemented by the council last year under the theme of “Rescuing Youth from Pressure.”
For the expenses, the unpaid bills amounted to Rs. 45.29 million, which are yet to be settled.
Of the total expenditure of Rs. 493.25 million, only Rs. 74.2 million was approved by the Presidential Secretariat and was given for these programmes, and the remaining funds (Rs. 464.59 Mn) had been spent utilising the NYC’s annual capital allocation.
More than sixty per cent of the total cost (Rs 323.39 million) had been spent on conducting three programmes.
The audit report notes that Smart Youth Exhibitions, accompanied by musical shows, had been conducted even before obtaining approval from the Cabinet.
The report also noted that despite the notification from the Election Commissioner not to conduct these exhibitions and musical shows due to the submission of nominations for the August 2024 presidential election, the musical shows were held. “A file related to these programmes had also been misplaced,” the report observed.
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