Early Times Report
Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Srinagar, Jan 27: The lackadaisical approach of government officials, who have not projected demand for release of 1st installment PMGSY-11, may result in state losing Central grants worth crores.
The state government has projected poor utilization of funds under the PMGSY scheme. An official document reveals that execution of works under the scheme is below the national average. "For the next seven months, the state would require to construct roads at an average rate of 10 Km per day," the document reads. "Against annual allocation of Rs 800 crore, State has not yet credited corresponding state share of Rs 151.22 crore for the year 2017-18," it says. The state has been able to get approval under PMGSY-11, which would be possible after awarding 80 percent of old works," the letter reads. The Centre has already told the state that funds for the future will only be released if the works are completed in set targets. The pace of works is such that the state is yet to construct 10,546 kilometers road length under the scheme, out of this 6,428 kilometres is unawarded road length, the document reads. Union Secretary for Rural Development Department has written to state government to achieve the target by March 2019. The state has to complete connectivity of 600 habitations by March 2019. Similarly against the target to construct 2800 KM road length, the achievement is only 601 km (21.46 percent of the target). The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and its National Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA) had also reprimanded Jammu Kashmir Government for slow pace of progress on the pending projects and asked the state to focus on balance habitations, particularly in its nine districts, which have less than 40 percent connectivity. |