Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 20: Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) with independent charge of North East, Dr Jitendra Singh today called for maintaining utmost transparency in the allocation of funds to the districts and holding of regular discussions with the elected representatives of the people instead of continuing with the ritual of holding District Development Board meetings once in a year.
Participating in the District Development Board meeting of Kathua district convened for finalization of district plan for the current financial year, Dr Singh, who is also Member of Parliament from Kathua-Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary constituency, said, “if we intend to translate oft repeated statements on transparency and accountability into reality, we have to maintain utmost transparency in the allocation of funds to the districts so that real objective of carrying out holistic development is achieved”.
“Each and every public representative of the concerned district must be made aware of the parameters, if any, for making financial allocations to the districts”, he said, adding “if there are parameters then the same should be revised after regular intervals by keeping Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly on board”.
Finding no importance in holding District Development Board meetings without any preliminary exercise, Dr Singh said, “ideally before DDB meeting, the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned district must hold series of discussions with the elected representatives of the people in order to lay down the priorities from people’s perspective”, adding “at present the preparation of District Plan is only left at the discretion of the Deputy Commissioner, which doesn’t hold any significance in the democratic set-up”.
Stating that priorities being fixed by the Deputy Commissioners without any detailed consultations with the elected representatives of the people don’t have any relevance to the common masses, the Union Minister said, “the planning for developmental activities in any district should not be once a year activity to be carried out prior to holding of District Development Board meetings”.
He stressed that even in the absence of DDB meetings, the District Development Commissioners should have standing instructions for holding detailed and formal consultations with the elected representatives of the people on at least quarterly basis so as to fix the priorities based on the outcome of such discussions. “This is imperative to ensure that the developmental activities are carried out in coordination for effective results on the ground”, Dr Jitendra further said.
The Union Minister pointed out that in the power point presentation made by the Deputy Commissioner Kathua, targets achieved under ambitious schemes launched by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi were not disclosed. “The DDC has failed to give us the details of Government of India schemes like Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana, Jeevan Suraksha Yojana”, he regretted, adding “while other States of the country and even Sangwali village adopted under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana have achieved 100% targets in some of these schemes, the DDC chose not to make revelations”.
Moreover, Dr Jitendra Singh said that nothing was shared about the steps initiated to implement Arogya Gram Yojana in the district.
It is pertinent to mention here that Kathua is the only district in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been selected for Arogya Gram Yojana on pilot basis.
On the occasion, the Union Minister highlighted major steps taken in a short span of time for the Kathua district. In this regard, he made mention about sanctioning of Bio-tech park at Ghatti, which is first of its kind in whole of North India and 15 new FM channels sanctioned for various parts of Jammu and Kashmir including Kathua district, which assumes much importance for being the nodal district for disbursal of funds under MPLAD scheme in entire Kathua-Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary constituency.
He disclosed that Jatanoo bridge is in the process of being sanctioned by the Union Government and Kathua Railway Station would get sitting benches and sheds out of MPLAD funds. “Even the Railways Ministry has been requested for alternate and more convenient site for new railway station in the district”, he further said, adding that proposal for upgradation of Kendriya Vidyalaya at Kathua has already been moved. The Union Minister also made mention about Keediyan Kadyal bridge, which was sanctioned only on his initiatives.
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