Coordination among various organs of administration is the key to good and efficient governance. In particular, when we are talking about development projects, it is obvious that more than one department is involved in the planning and execution. Therefore, the crux of the good governance is that all the concerned departments should work in complete agreement and cohesion. If it does not happen, the pace of development will be slowed down. In 2006, the then coalition Government of Congress and PDP decided to create new posts of Additional Development Commissioners in 12 districts. The justification offered by the Government then was that the ADDCs will travel in the concerned districts for at least two weeks in a month and monitor the progress made on state and centre floated projects and programmes underway. In all probability, this administrative measure had become necessary in the light of the fact that the 12 identified districts are all almost hilly with difficult road connectivity. At the same time perhaps these twelve districts were identified as lagging behind in development owing to their topographical peculiarities. There could have been other reasons also for identifying them. The General Administration Department while conveying approval to the decision of the Government also dwelt on the role that freshly appointed ADDCs would play. It was specifically mentioned that the incumbents of newly created posts of ADDCs would be of the ranks of either Senior Scale IAS officers or Special/Selection Grade KAS officers. They would carry out monitoring and physical verification of all the developmental schemes including Centrally Sponsored and Special Projects under implementation by different departments in the district with special focus on the developmental schemes carried out by main state agencies like Public Works Department, Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control, Urban Environmental Engineer, Power Development, Agriculture, Horticulture, Social Welfare and Health and Education Departments.
We are not going to open a debate on the merits or demerits of creating new administrative posts at district level. The reason is that the time has gone when such a debate could have been initiated. The precise debate is on the performance of the ADDCs and the delivery report of the task assigned to them according to the orders of the Administrative Department. The position on the ground is that the Development Commissioners of concerned districts are reported to have deployed the ADDCs to some other administrative duties rather than to the precise duties that they were supposed to perform as per the order of the Administrative Department. If they are to travel to different parts of the district to monitor the progress of the developmental schemes, obviously they should have the transport facility. They should have been provided with vehicles in which they would keep travelling for half of the month. Without transport facility, one cannot expect them to perform efficiently and objectively. By not providing them this and other infrastructural support, the very purpose of the scheme under which these twelve senior administrative posts were created remains defeated.
It has to be said that by and large the State has not shown the desired responsiveness to the centrally sponsored schemes for various reasons. In many cases, since the State Government could not implement the central schemes within the stipulated time, it had to forfeit part of the grant sanctioned. We understand that the creation of Additional Deputy Development Commissioners is to monitor the progress periodically and we think if it had been implemented in letter and in spirit, it would give the right type of feedback on each developmental project. But this has not happened. Why the Administrative Department did not ask the district authorities to stick to the instructions it had issued to the DCs at the time of crating new posts and the terms of reference thereof, is very mystifying.
We expect that the purpose for which these posts of ADDCs were created should be pursued in right earnest and the duties they are supposed to perform will be assigned to them. The DCs may utilize their services in other areas of administration if needed but essentially the very purpose for which these posts were created have to be the prime concern of all. Non-cooperation of various functionaries is a serious flaw and no good administrator will tolerate it. Why are the ADDCs denied to chair the convergence of schemes with MGNREGA when it has been the considered decision of the Administrative Department?
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel