Central road fund

Subject: Economy

Context:

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has mooted an investigation against the Central government’s accounting officials for incorrectly recording ₹10,250 crore of cess receipts from additional excise duties on petrol and diesel, as non-tax receipts for the exchequer in 2018-19.

Concept:

• The Central Road Fund (CRF) is a non-lapsable fund created under Central Road Fund Act 2000.
• It is procured out of the out of cess/tax imposed by the Union Government on the consumption of Petrol and Diesel.
• CRF should be used to develop and maintain National Highways, State roads (that have economic importance with inter-state connectivity), rural roads, railway under/over bridges etc, and national waterways (waterways from 2017 onwards only).
• The CRF was replaced with a Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) through amendments introduced in the Union Budget for 2018-19.