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| Remote areas to carry on previous year’s plan funds | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 25: The National Conference led Government has embarked on an innovative scheme of allowing far-flung areas, where the working season remains extremely limited because of weather vagaries, to operate 100 per cent of their previous year's plan allocations at the commencement of the new financial year.
Earlier these areas were entitled to operate upto 25 per cent of the previous year's plan allocations to ensure continuity in ongoing works. But a Government survey had revealed that allowing 25 per cent of the previous year's allocations to be carried forward to the next year was too meager to enable these farflung areas to taste the fruit of development. Official sources said that in certain far-flung and hilly areas weather vagaries would not allow more than 20 per cent of the plan allocations to be spent on various development projects. The result was about 80 per cent of the plan allocations would lapse.
The sources said that in certain cases agencies engaged in implementing various development schemes would not hesitate misappropriating funds by showing some projects having been implemented on paper alone.Such nefarious activities would go unnoticed because senior Government functionaries usually avoided visiting these remote areas which entailed some difficulties in travel.
According to official sources, the innovative procedure had been adopted to ensure proper utilisation of funds and avoid funds getting lapsed. They made it clear that this concession would be given only in case of far-flung areas where the working season remained extremely limited. They indicated that the procedure may be adopted for other areas also after the centre gave its nod. At present the state Government has taken up with the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister the issue of allowing the state to operate at least 60 per cent of the previous year's plan allocations at the commencement of the new financial year.
Once the centre accepted this demand it would ensure all round progress as funds will not lapse at the end of one financial year. It has been seen that funds worth several hundred crores of rupees earmarked for centrally sponsored schemes and those in the state sector getting lapsed because of poor utilization whether owing to weather related problems or on account of delayed sanction. The result was that the pace of development of the state in sectors connected with road connectivity, irrigation, flood control, agriculture, industries, health, education, drainage etc remained poor when compared to other states. One senior Government functionary said that as a result of extremely limited working season in various areas of the state Jammu and Kashmir could not fully receive the benefits of the liberal central financial assistance when more than 40 per cent of these funds would get lapsed year after year.
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