Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Oct 28: The Centre’s prestigious project, Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), to bring Below Poverty Line (BPL) families Above Poverty Line (APL) within three years has failed as huge amounts of rupees sanctioned for the project have not been utilized.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report paints a grim picture of the implementation of the project in Jammu district. It says that out of 26,278 BPL families in the blocks of Bishnah, Akhnoor, Khour, Satwari and Marh in Jammu district, only 823 families were covered.
However, the report says that physical verification of the covered beneficiaries was not conducted by any of the implementing agency. It was not ascertained whether beneficiaries had actually set up the intended units by assessing their functional health.
The report says Government has not verified the programmes to check their income generation. The CAG report says that no study through reputed institutions was conducted to study the impact of the implementation of the programme.
Under the programme, BPL individuals or Self Help Groups were to be provided with income generating assets through a mix of bank credit and Government subsidy. The scheme was meant to ensure that a BPL family generates at least Rs 2000 as monthly income. Under the scheme, applications were to be invited and scrutinized by the DRDA and then forwarded to banks and financial institutions for loans.
The report says that the project officer, DRDA Jammu and the BDOs didn’t utilize the funds meant for the programme. The unspent balance swelled from Rs 37.24 lakh in 2006-07 to Rs 100.67 lakh in 2010-11. The report says that the huge unspent balance indicated poor financial management which deprived the beneficiaries from the programme.
The report says that 2266 cases were sponsored between 2006 and 2011, out of which only 1127 cases were sanctioned. And out of sanctioned cases, only 833 cases were disbursed.
The report says that despite huge funds available with the Government, subsidy was distributed to only 15-32 percent sanctioned cases.
The SGSY guidelines emphasized for the formation of the Self Help Groups of the rural poor but since 2006 till 2011 only 259 Self Help Groups were formed. Out of these, subsidy was given to only 50 SHGs.
The BDOs have attributed to the poor coverage of the SHGs to the rejection of the majority of the cases by the banks. But the CAG has rejected the BDOs plea saying that department had to take the matter with the banks in advance regarding the number of the cases to be sanctioned during a particular year.
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