Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 1: The Government will soon revive the institution of District Development Boards (DDBs), which were presently lying defunct in the State after change of power and empower them for development of the districts especially those located in remote and far off areas.
“The DDBs will be constituted soon, most likely after re-opening of Darbar in Srinagar, the summer capital of the State, on May 5. Mechanism of the DDBs will be worked out before they are constituted. Some changes could be made in them to give them a new look and more powers,” official sources told the Excelsior.
The DDBs had ceased to exist after exit of National Conference-Congress Government in December last year. During 2002-2005 PDP Government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, a new mechanism had been introduced for the DDBs with entire Cabinet joining their meeting for on spot approval of the works and sorting out the issues pertaining to different Ministries.
“The mechanism that existed in 2002 during then Mufti Sayeed regime could be revived with more powers,” sources said, adding that the Government would soon take final decision on constitution of the DDBs to ensure that their meetings start in the month of June,” sources said.
There are 19 Cabinet Ministers including the Chief Minister and each one of them could head one DDB if the Government decides to go ahead with the previous mechanism. Generally, the Chief Minister heads the Boards of the two rotational capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar.
According to sources, the DDBs could include all elected representatives of the concerned districts including Members of Parliament (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) and legislators (both MLAs and MLCs) among others.
In other States, the heads of Block Development Councils (BDCs) also formed parts of the DDBs but in Jammu and Kashmir, the BDCs have not been constituted even after four years of the Panchayat elections. In the three-tier Panchayati Raj system, the DDBs are replaced by the District Development and Planning Boards (DDPBs). However, since elections to the BDCs were not held, the DDPBs too couldn’t be constituted. The DDPBs in majority of the Indian States are headed by the Panchayat representatives but in Jammu and Kashmir, they are generally headed by the Chief Minister (capital cities) and Cabinet Ministers. The Ministers of State head the DDBs in rare cases.
Presently, the PDP-BJP coalition Government has 19 Cabinet Ministers— PDP 11 and BJP eight.
Most of the decisions pertaining to developmental works in the districts are taken by the DDBs. It is mandatory for the District Development Commi-ssioners (DDBs) to hold developmental works with approval of the DDBs. Annual plan of the districts is also approved in the DDB meetings.
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