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| Azad's roar on poor development activity | | | The Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, needs to
be lauded for two things. One, his decision to review the progress in the centrally sponsored National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in various states, including Jammu and Kashmir. Two, he has voiced his anger over the failure of the ruling coalition in completing number of development projects which he(Azad) had sanctioned when he was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir between 2005 and 2008. Notwithstanding the fact that his criticism of delay in the completion of various development projects had remained Bhaderwah centric, which was natural as he had spent a day in visiting different areas of the town, he may have the same opinion if he tours other parts of the State. Over the years it is been a t ale of either poor utilisation of funds or misappropriation of funds or delay on the part of the concerned Government agencies in releasing funds. One instance as far as Bhaderwarh concerned. The JKPCC received about Rs.16 crores against the estimated cost of Over Rs. 24 crores that were to be utilised on various projects. What seems to be a matter of concern is the way the concer ned departments were able to spend only Rs.13 crores out of Rs.16 crores released.
If Azad travels to farflung areas in the Kashmir valley, in the regions of Jammu and Ladakh he would be in bigger shock when projects sanctioned four tofive years ago had not been completed till the end the 2011. Azad has been quite candid when he said that "jahan pathar rakha thaa Ab Tak hila nahein" (where ever the foundation stone had been laid there has been no progress). In fact this very statement should bring Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues out of slumber. It should bring about an awakening on the part of senior bureaucrats and technocr ats. If Azad can effectively intervene,he has promised to take up the issue of implementation of development projects, he should forcee the Government to focus attention on poor progress of various schemes not only in Bhaderah belt but in he entire state. His intervention should be so effective that the Government frames a new policy under which it would be mandatory on the part of all the agencies engaged in execution of centrally sponsored development projects to submit utilisation reports on time so that there was no delay in releasing funds.
No doubt the irregularities committed in the implementation of NRHM in Jammu and Kashmir are not as massive as they have been in other states, especially in Uttar Pradesh where several political leaders and bureaucrats suffered loss of their face, still there was need for a proper review of the scheme. If a team of experts is constituted for reviewing the progress in NRHM in Jammu and Kashmir many a skeletons would be found in the cupboards of government agencies. If not any thing else Azad can help the ruling coalition in improving the work culture in the state which has been invariably plagued by weather vagaries which have been affecting the schedule of development activities. One still remembers how Azad, during his Chief Minister's tenure, was able to introduce doube and triple shifts for completing various development schemes. If he does so it would convince his critics that whatever Azad said in Bhaderwah was simply part of his political campaign against his detractors within the Congress. Azad would serve the state and the Congress in a better way if he stops patronising dissidents in the Congress. |
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