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| CM's Ganderbal; 57 percent plan funds unutilized | | 'DC rewarded for retirement' | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Jan 31: With just two months left for the financial year 2012-13 to come to a close, 57 percent of the total funds meant for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's high profile constituency of Ganderbal under district plan are yet to be utilized.
Yet the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of this VIP district Showkat Ahmed Mir was recently decorated with State award for 'meritorious services'. Bestowed upon him at the fag end of his career, sources said that the award has more to do with the work done by him during his entire service and has not been given to him as a measure of the work done by him in uplifting developmental profile of Ganderbal.
Records also certify this statement since during the last 9 months of the current financial year; District Ganderbal has spent just Rs. 2990.77 lakh of the annual district plan outlay of Rs. 6890.19 lakh for the financial year 2012-13. Irrigation and Flood Control alongwith Roads and Buildings, General Services and General Economic Services have booked lowest expenditure. Of these, Irrigation and Flood Control department has spent Rs. 60.86 lakh of the total plan outlay of Rs. 1337.44 lakh.
This is a just 4.55 percent of the total allocation. This is followed by Roads and Buildings department which could spend just Rs. 39.44 lakh of the total allocation of Rs. 1295 lakh i.e. 39.44 percent of the total allocation. Of Rs. 149.80 projected for utilization under the General Economic Services (GES) category which includes funds marked specially for infrastructure building and supporting planning machinery, district Ganderbal could spend just Rs. 36.55 lakh, thus leaving around Rs. 113.25 lakh unutilized i.e. 24.40 percent of the total earmarked funds.
On the social services front, District Ganderbal has failed to spend even a single penny of the total allocated Rs. 23.58 lakh. Besides, the district administration booked an expenditure of Rs. 215.93 lakh of the total allocated Rs. 469.83 lakh on elementary education. This is around 45.96 percent of the total plan money allocated for this purpose. 74 percent of the funds earmarked for works to be taken up for providing safe drinking water to the Ganderbal people are yet to be utilized.
While 79.90 percent of the total allocated funds have been spent on teacher's education, 20.44 percent has been spent on Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and 74.38 percent on the Secondary Education. Hence, the stress has seemingly been on educating teachers and not on providing quality education. On the health front, district Baramulla has spent 59.88 percent of the total allocation. 52.99 percent has been spent on self-employment.
Of the total allocation of Rs. 248 lakh, an expenditure of Rs. 131.41 lakh has been booked. On providing nutrition to the children, the district has expensed just Rs. 5.57 lakh of the total allocation of Rs. 188.52 lakh i.e. 2.95 percent. It is only the Rural Development Department (RDD) where the Government has succeeded in spending money on the developmental works. Of the total allocation of Rs. 329.43 lakh, an amount of Rs. 259.34 lakh has been expended.
This is around 78.72 percent of the total allocation. On the Industry and Mineral front, the district administration has spent Rs. 34.66 lakh of the total allocation of Rs. 52.57 lakh i.e. 65.93 percent of the total earmarked funds. Chief Minister's own Power Development Department (PDD) is the only sliver lining in the otherwise gloomy scenario. An amount of Rs. 34.50 lakh had been kept for PDD purposes. Of this, the administration expended around Rs. 30.83 lakh.
The profile sketched above of Chief Minister's constituency is gloomy as well as the one which showcases the overall health of the administrative set-up. If this is how the officers are performing in a high profile district, a serious and puzzling question crops up about the developmental profile of other districts in the State. A high profile constituency like Ganderbal has failed to expend funds earmarked for various needs arising at the local level. Instead of fixing responsibility, bestowing officers with awards merely because they are retiring raises serious questions. |
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