Govt committees do little to monitor RD schemes

Govt committees do little to monitor RD schemes

Srinagar, May 17: The committees set up by the state are doing little to monitor the execution of Rural Development (RD) Schemes in the state. For the last two years, the government has set up several monitoring committees in view of “poor utilization(खराब उपयोग)” of the funds and “irregularities(अनियमितताओं)” in implementation of centrally-sponsored schemes. However, these committees have failed to monitor utilisation of the funds meant for these schemes.  The government, in August 2016, constituted the ‘State Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee’ under the Minister for Rural Development.

Parliament members and several MLAs and officials were made its members. And the committee was tasked to monitor the flow of funds for various rural developmental schemes.

It also asked to strengthen the coordination between various departments for effective implementation of the schemes.

Since its constitution, official sources said, the committee didn’t monitor the execution(क्रियान्वयन)  of schemes.

On November 28, 2016, the committee held its maiden meeting, which was attended by minister for Rural Development and a few of its members.

It was decided to seek status of the implementation of the schemes from the officials.

“Nothing such has been done. Even the committee didn’t hold another meeting to check whether any action was taken on the decisions taken in the first meeting,” an official said.

Similarly, a monitoring committee was also set up at the Civil Secretariat.

It had to supervise the rural developmental schemes, while the members of the committee were also tasked to conduct regular checks of developmental schemes.

The government had also decided that panchayat members of respective villages would identify the developmental works that would be carried out under their surveillance(निगरानी).

“All these decisions remained confined to papers only, without any implementation on the ground,” the official said. There is poor implementation of rural developmental schemes in absence of monitoring body,” he added.

In the last two years, the Union Ministry of Rural Development Department has pulled up the state several times for poor implementation of centrally-sponsored schemes, especially under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

In a directive last year, the centre pointed out that the projects started in financial year 2014-2015 or before in the state were incomplete.

The state has achieved only two percent of the annual target of constructing Anganwadi Centres (AWC) under MGNREGA during the last fiscal, according to a letter written by the centre to JK government.

It also expressed serious concern over the state government completing only 22 per cent of farm pond construction during 2016-2017.

The state was also asked to ensure transparency in schemes in view of complaints about embezzlement of funds in developmental works.

Minister for Rural Development, Abdul Haq Khan, said the rural developmental schemes were affected the last year due to unrest.

“We are monitoring the developmental schemes at the departmental level to ensure transparency in the works and their timely completion,” he said.