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| 'Tough' Minister fails to deter engineers, just 20 percent Panchayat Ghars complete | | Kargil tops; Doda, Kishtwar, Srinagar score zero | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Feb 20: Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar may claim to be a tough Minister but officials of the department especially those involved in the construction of Panchayat Ghars have seemingly little regard for his repeated announcements and pronouncements.
Sagar had claimed in an official handout released on March 18, 2013 that Panchayat Ghars across the State would be completed by September 2013 but status report which the department had annexed with the reply to question of National Conference (NC) leader Dr. Shehnaz Ganai reveals a dismal picture. Despite NC's firebrand leader Ali Mohammad Sagar issuing threats through media, the engineers have cared little and completed just 135 Panchayat Ghars.
13th Finance Commission had sanctioned 1678 Panchayat Ghars for entire State which were to be completed by March 2014. Rural Development Department miserably failed to get the work completed and if the reply of the department is to be believed, a mere 11.68 percent work has been done since October 2011. Of the 1155 Panchayat Ghars taken up for execution, 242 have been completed.
933 are still under construction and the department has again set another deadline. According to it, all these Panchayat Ghars would be completed by March 2014 i.e. a month from today. This deadline has been set despite the fact that in three Districts namely Doda, Kishtwar and Srinagar, not even one Panchayat Ghar has been completed for the reasons best known to the department.
Department had taken up 98 Panchayat Ghars for execution in District Doda, 47 in Kishtwar and 1 in Srinagar. It has scored zero in these three districts. Of 145 Panchayat Ghars sanctioned for Rajouri district, 11 buildings have been completed while 134 others are still under execution. Of 70 Panchayat Ghars taken up for execution in Kathua district, 6 have been completed. The department has pledged to complete pending 66 Panchayat Ghars by March 2014.
Similar is the case of Udhampur district where 10 buildings have been completed of the 77 sanctioned. Law Minister Mir Saifullah's constituency Kupwara is the worst hit. Department took up 107 Panchayat Ghars for execution and has completed just 9 in the last three years. Anantnag district saw Rural Department taking up 84 Panchayat Ghars for construction and completing just 8, leaving a huge number i.e. 76 for being completed by the end of Financial Year 2013-14.
Jammu, Samba, Ganderbal, Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipora, Leh and Kargil are the districts which have done considerably well given the dismal scenario in other districts of the State. Of 60 sanctioned, 23 buildings have been completed in Jammu. 22 have been completed in Samba and just 9 are under execution. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's home districts Ganderbal has seen completion of 12 buildings of the 16 which had been taken up for execution.
Budgam where Government had taken up 37 Panchayat Ghars for execution, 16 have been completed. 30 Panchayat Ghars have been completed in Baramulla. 82 more buildings are pending for execution and department has set completion date of March 31. Bandipora has seen department working overnight as 21 of the 22 Panchayat Ghars taken up for execution have been completed.
All the 10 Panchayat Ghars have been completed in Kargil while 7 of the 11 have been completed in Leh district. Reasi, Ramban, Kulgam and Shopian also showcase how the department has preferred to bypass the Minister who otherwise has the image of being firebrand and man of few words. Interestingly, the department has seemingly given incomplete and tricky reply to the question of NC MLC Dr. Shehnaz Ganai. |
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