EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 6: The Rural Development Department (RDD) has allegedly overlooked the guidelines of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act by not preparing prospective plans at district level to ensure the development works should be executed in a year.
Besides, the delay in submission of Annual Labour Budgets by the concerned agency to Government of India has resulted in undue delay in release of funds for the works.
Sources in the department told Early Times that the as per scheme guidelines which provide for preparation of Perspective Plans at district level. "With this District Perspective Plan for five years, helps in facilitating the Annual Labour Budgets as a framework of long term planning," they said.
They further said that the Annual Development Plans under MGNREGA which comes from the Perspective Plans becomes the working plans that contain the nature, number and nomenclature of the development works to be executed in the ensuing year.
They informed that it has been observed that most of the districts had not formulated Perspective Plans. The State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC) also admitted that the Perspective Plans had not been formulated by all the districts, but the Annual Plans have been formulated. In the absence of Perspective Plans, the planning to provide long term developmental perspective for all Districts could not be ensured. Not only this even, the State Government was to forward the Annual Labour Budget to GoI each year on a specific date but the Annual Labour Budgets for the years 2012-13 to 2016-17 were submitted to GoI after a delay of one to three months, which eventually resulted in the late release of funds by the GoI and delayed payment of wages. |
