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| A nonpartisan developmental review nails populist measures | | Governor: keep funds in mind while planning projects | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Nov 18: Speeches stretching over tens of hours have been made in legislative assembly and thousands of centimeters of publicity space has been occupied by the ‘popular government’ to highlight the mega projects coming up in the Winter Capital City and elsewhere in the region but a nonpartisan review of projects have nailed the populist measures which have been good for rhetoric but are nowhere closer to serve the public utility.
At least 16 major buildings which have recently come are lying idle as there is no idea for the funds to make them operational. These buildings had to house various health institutions including the additional blocks at the Government Medical College Jammu and District Hospital, Udhampur, which could not be made operational for non sanction of the requisite staff and lack of provision for the essential equipments. Such has been the expansion which visibly appears as major achievement of the government but generations may have to wait for their actual use.
While chairing a high level meeting to review the major developmental projects in Jammu, here today, the Governor NN Vohra observed on these buildings "had this process (arranging funds for making projects functional) also been initiated simultaneously, these buildings would have already become operational to provide invaluable benefit to the sick and ailing people”.
In the meeting which was attended by his Advisor, officers of Finance and Housing departments and the local administration, the Governor observed, "instead of taking up a large number of new projects, a planned effort is required to be made to complete the ongoing projects within a tight time frame”. He stressed the need for close and effective synergy between the various departments and said that all related aspects of each project should be fully deliberated upon, at the beginning itself, to ensure their smooth operation on completion. It was in this context that use of 16 buildings was discussed.
An official spokesman said, the Governor did some plain-speaking on the manner in which the schemes have been taken up in a haphazard manner without taking into consideration the inescapable necessity of ensuring their proper funding and, in many cases, even their feasibility. In the absence of adequate funding, the schemes get spilled over from year to years, thereby resulting expensive time and cost over-runs. “He observed that a populist developmental strategy would be counter-productive and instead of satisfying the people, earn their wrath”, the spokesman quoted the Governor as saying in the meeting.
"The inflow of pilgrims and the tourists passing through Jammu every year would soon touch 10 million mark a year. In this context its holistic development, particularly in regard to the provision of sewerage, roads, street lighting, drinking water and other civic amenities cannot indefinitely await long term measures", the Governor said.
Referring to the '20 year-Vision Document' and the 'Master Plan', drawn up for regulating the orderly development of the capital cities, the Governor said that certain basic services, designed on perspective planning, had to be put on top gear to save Jammu from degenerating into a slum. He asked the policy planners to keep in mind fast increasing transit population of the city while tailoring various utility schemes.
Stressing the critical importance of enhancing the pace of implementing various developmental works, with focused attention on widening their scope for public utility, the Governor asked the Heads of Departments in charge of the implementing agencies to work in close tandem to achieve the desired results on a time-bound basis.
The Governor also asked the concerned executing agencies to take a micro view of the under implementation schemes and ensure the maintenance and upkeep of the assets created for the public utility purposes. He said that in both the urban and local areas there was need to improve the civic amenities, particularly to augment the essential services like water, power and road connectivity. He asked for regular testing of the water being supplied for human consumption in ensure against the occurrence of water borne diseases. He also directed the concerned agencies to secure visible improvement in the implementation of urban and rural sanitation schemes, and also formulate additional projects to achieve complete coverage, on immediate basis.
During the near 4-hour long meeting, review of the key sectors like Roads & Bridges, Public Health Engineering, Health, Education, Rural Development, Power and Urban Development came up for detailed discussions. The meeting was informed that 35% of Plan allocation of the current fiscal had been expended by the end of October this year and there were no problems regarding the flow of funding from NABARD and other financial institutions. |
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