Union Ministry lays thrust on expeditious utilization
In Ladakh, funds remain unutilized under NRLM
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 10: Over Rs 152 crore have remained unspent under five major rural development schemes in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Ministry of Rural Development has laid thrust on expeditious utilization of the funds in order to provide benefits to the targeted population.
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The Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, is implementing a number of schemes/programmes for overall development of rural areas of the country and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) are among the major schemes.
These schemes/programmes are implemented with active cooperation of the States/Union Territories, which are expected to set up dedicated Programme Management Unions (PMUs) to undertake tasks of implementation, monitoring and supervision at different levels.
As per the data of the Union Ministry of Rural Development, over Rs 152 crore have remained unspent under five major rural development schemes in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Ministry has asked the concerned authorities in the UT to ensure expeditious utilization of released funds from the current financial year so that targeted population receives the benefit of the same well in time.
As far as MGNREGS is concerned, an amount of Rs 44.95 lakh has remained unspent as per Plan Finance Management System (PFMS) as on March 31, 2025 under Material Component and Rs 2.93 crore unspent under Admin Component.
The primary objective of the MGNREGS is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Similarly, under PMAY-G unspent balance in State Nodal Account (SNA) as on April 1, 2025 is to the tune of Rs 28.9 crore. PMAY-G addresses the rural housing shortage and bridges the housing deficit in rural areas of India, contributing significantly to the mission of “Housing for All”.
As far as PMGSY is concerned, an amount of Rs 114.43 crore remained unspent balance in SNA as on February 14, 2025. The primary objective of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is to provide all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected rural habitations, aiming to improve accessibility and socio-economic development in rural areas.
Likewise, an amount of Rs 5.47 crore remained unspent as on March 25, 2025 under NRLM, the objective of which is to reduce poverty by enabling rural poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in sustainable and diversified livelihood options.
As far as Union Territory of Ladakh is concerned, Rs 1.5 crore remained unspent under PMAY-G as on April 1, 2025 while as Rs 56 lakh remained unspent under PMGSY as on February 14, 2025 and Rs 6.17 crore under NRLM.
“The allocation of funds under these schemes/programme is a continuous process and funds are allocated in installments taking into account the balance of funds, submission of requisite documents/utilization certificates as per schematic requirements, ensuring proper utilization of funds already allocated, strict adherence to the guidelines and assessing the actual requirement at the ground level”, the Ministry said.
After introduction of Single Nodal Agency (SNA) model for releasing funds under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes the funds release process became more effective and faster as such the UT Government should ensure timely and effective utilization of funds under all the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of the rural development sector, the Ministry stressed, adding “as the schemes have been brought under end-to-end transaction-based MIS, there should be strict monitoring of utilization of funds in a real time basis”.
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