*Step to ensure early release of funds, timely works
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 10: Concerned over delay in meeting the special developmental needs of the people living near the borders, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has directed the Jammu and Kashmir Government to submit plans under Border Area Development Programme (BADP) scheme for the next financial year by or before March 31, 2016. The strict compliance to the directives would ensure early release of funds and timely execution of works, which till today has remained a dream in almost all the border districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Border Area Development Programme, a 100% Centrally funded programme, covers all the villages which are located within 0-10 kilometer of the border and funds of this scheme are used for meeting the critical gaps and to meet the immediate needs of the border population.
It has been seen that due to delayed formulation and submission of the annual BADP Plans by the concerned authorities of the Jammu and Kashmir, the sanctioning of funds by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) gets delayed and same results into delayed start of works and their non-completion during the year for which the plan is approved.
This can be gauged from the fact that 70% funds under the BADP Plans for the current financial year (2015-16) were released in the last week of December 2015 and whether the same would be utilized 100% before the end of current financial year remains a million dollar question as some mandatory procedure like tendering and allotment works is required to be followed by the concerned authorities before actual start of work on ground, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
“In order to ensure that there is no further delay in meeting the special developmental needs of the border people, the Department of Border Management of Ministry of Home Affairs few days back dashed a communication to the Planning and Development Department of Jammu and Kashmir with the direction that all the BADP plans shall be submitted to the Ministry by or before March 31, 2016”, sources said.
Now, the Planning and Development Department headed by Chief Secretary, B R Sharma has directed the District Development Commissioners (DDCs) of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Shopian, Leh and Kargil to immediately begin exercise for formulation of BADP plan of their respective districts so that the deadline fixed by the Ministry of Home Affairs is met and plans are submitted well before March 31, 2016.
“Though the District Development Commissioners would formulate BADP plan of their respective district for the next financial year keeping in mind the allocation of 2015-16, the possibility of MHA increasing the allocation at its own end cannot be ruled out as the Narendra Modi-led Government has flagged top priority to meeting the special developmental needs of the inhabitants of the border areas”, sources said.
They disclosed that the MHA has specifically mentioned in the communication that focus should be laid on execution of works reflected under the BADP plan in convergence with other schemes particularly National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
“This step is aimed at ensuring that financial constraints don’t create hurdle in timely completion of the works”, sources said while disclosing that NREGA can supplement the labour component and the other components can easily be taken up under BADP. Moreover, this approach adopted by certain District Development Commissioners in respect of developmental works in border areas has already done wonders.
Sources further informed that MHA has also directed that the concerned District Development Commissioners shall identify the villages and works for being taken up under BADP in consultation with Border Guarding Forces, which shall draw a list of strategically prioritized villages in their respective areas.
“Such villages would be saturated first with respect to the developmental activities such as road connectivity, electricity, drinking water, sanitation, health, agriculture and allied sectors and after saturating the strategically prioritized villages, other villages will be taken up for development”, sources added.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ministry of Home Affairs had modified guidelines of the Border Area Development Programme in the month of June last year and the same were forwarded to the States having border with neighboring countries for strict compliance and these guidelines are being taken into consideration while utilization of funds sanctioned under BADP.
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