25-02-14
Governor slams DF Government over
non-compliance of directives, again
* Expresses ‘concern’ and ‘displeasure’ over slow pace of liquidation of backlog
By Kartik Lokhande
Democratic Front (DF) Government appears to have made non-compliance to
the Governor’s Directives a regular feature. Once again, it has drawn
flak from the Governor over non-compliance of directives, slow pace of
liquidation of backlog, non-submission of reports as suggested by him,
not carrying out feasibility study of energisation of agricultural pumps
using solar energy, and various other aspects.
The Governor has expressed ‘concern’ that various issues have still ‘not
been resolved in a satisfactory manner’. These issues include those
related to governance, mechanism for revised administrative approvals
and re-appropriation of funds, land acquisition and rehabilitation,
forest clearances, and filling up of vacancies. He has dubbed these as
some of the primary reasons of ‘slow pace’ of liquidation of physical
backlog concerning four districts of Amravati Division. The balance
physical backlog at the end of June 2013 for these districts was
2,27,269 hectares.
Referring to the irrigation projects in Vidarbha, the Governor has
stated in clear terms that the allocation for creating a shelf of
projects is ‘insufficient’. Observing that the ‘delay’ in payment of Net
Present Value (NPV) charges is leading to delay in creation of the
shelf as desired, the Governor has directed the Government to meet the
requirement for payment of NPV and other charges from funds available
with Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC). “Subsequently,
(this be) accounted for as non-divisible expenditure in the next annual
plan,” he stated in the directives released on Tuesday.
Further, the Governor has slammed the Energy Department for not carrying
out a feasibility study about energisation of agricultural pumps using
solar energy. He has noted this with ‘concern’ and has expressed
‘displeasure’ about delay in implementation of pilot scheme of
energisation of agriculture pumps using solar energy source in
Gadchiroli district. He has directed the Energy Department to complete
the study ‘urgently’ and implement the scheme based on that.
Also, the Governor has expressed ‘deep concern’ over non-compliance of
his earlier directives. In his directives dated March 10, 2011; the
Governor had directed the Government to set up a mechanism to report the
details of region-wise outlays and expenditure for all sectors
including irrigation. In the directives dated March 17, 2012, Finance
Department was directed to publish region-wise figures for non-plan
developmental expenditure. However, both the directives have not been
complied with. He has slammed the departments concerned for ‘having
failed’ to resolve the issues raised by Divisional Commissioners in
their review reports prepared as per the Governor’s Directives dated
March 13, 2013.
“The Governor has noted with concern that some of his earlier directives
have not been fully complied with,” states the latest directives in
closing paragraph. This observation refers to the directives asking the
Planning Department to submit impact assessment study and a report on
time and cost over-runs. The Governor has slammed Planning Department
for not complying to the directives dated March 13, 2013 regarding
classification of non-divisible items and subsequent categorisation of
the expenditure in regions concerned.
Rs 2,844.74 cr for Vidarbha
In the directives issued for
region-wise distribution of outlays in the financial year 2014-15,
Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan has pointed out that the total
divisible outlay available for irrigation sector is Rs 7,004.96 crore.
Of this, the outlay for tribal sub-plan (TSP) is Rs 139.23 crore,
leaving the available outlay for general plan for irrigation sector to
Rs 6,865.73 crore. From this, the Governor has asked the Government to
first earmark Rs 750 crore to four districts of Amravati Division namely
Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, and Washim for removal of backlog.
After this, the available outlay for irrigation sector shall be
distributed to different regions as follows: Vidarbha-- Rs 2,786.13
crore, Marathwada-- Rs 1,301.29 crore, and Rest of Maharashtra-- Rs
2,778.31 crore. That for TSP includes Vidarbha-- Rs 58.61 crore,
Marathwada-- Rs 7.49 crore, Rest of Maharashtra-- Rs 73.13 crore. Thus,
the total outlay for Vidarbha region is Rs 2,844.74 crore including that
from divisible funds and TSP. Once again, the Governor has stated in
clear terms that there shall be ‘no diversion of funds’ from backlog
districts to non-backlog districts and from the area of one Development
Board to another, without his prior approval.
Governor on report of Kelkar Committee
In Governor’s
Directives, there is a special mention about an Experts’ Committee under
noted economist Vijay Kelkar. The High Level Committee on issues of
balanced regional development submitted its report to the Governor
recently. However, the Government has been stating that it is yet to
study the report. In his directives, the Governor has stated that he has
sought the views of the State Government on the report. “The Governor
expects the State Government to consider the report and its
recommendations, including the proposed principles of allocation, and
submit its views expeditiously, for his consideration,” it is stated in
the directives.
WRD asked to submit list of projects on shelf till Oct
Previously,
the Governor had directed the Government to take ‘all the necessary
steps’ for creating an adequate shelf of projects for full utilisation
of available water of Godavari river basin in Vidarbha region. Now, the
Governor has asked Water Resources Department (WRD) to submit the list
of projects ‘on shelf so created’ in compliance to the directives, by
October 2014. Besides, he has asked WRD not to start work of these
projects on shelf without making additional resources available.
Region-wise outlay for 2014-15 as per Governor’s Directives
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Region Allocation as per Allocation of Total
divisible funds TSP funds allocation
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Vidarbha Rs 2,786.13 cr Rs 58.61 cr Rs 2,844.74 cr
Marathwada Rs 1,301.29 cr Rs 7.49 cr Rs 1,308.79 cr
Rest of Maha Rs 2,778.31 cr Rs 73.13 cr Rs 2,851.44 cr
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Rs 6,865.73 cr Rs 139.23 cr Rs 7,004.96 cr
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