It, prima facia, should not look something special all about physical verification which should be considered an inalienable part of the entire exercise of construction of projects – not only those under ”ongoing ” status but even the completed ones. Physical verification means a system of checks and balances and a mandatory audit without which no project was deemed to have actually been completed. Decidedly, such a system was not in vogue in Jammu and Kashmir earlier or if it was , the same was not effectively carried out resulting in most of the projects running into rough weather, not completed, abandoned or if at all raised, financial indiscipline and other irregularities as a result, were in many cases, found galore. To overcome this rut in the system, decision of the Finance Department to have physical verification of all the projects completed under different schemes in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, issued in early 2020 , should have been seen to be complied with in letter and spirit. We have been laying stress on strengthening the concept of accountability in every field ,more so where finances are involved , the absence of which desired results from any of the tasks, projects, directives, schemes etc was not possible to be of the desired levels. Appraising the fate of the directions of the physical verification of projects from the Finance department reveals a picture far from being of any satisfactory levels.Not only was the important and sensitive work going on at a snail’s pace but there was practically no monitoring and follow-up as to the level of progress made in the exercise. It looks astonishing that the human resources inputs employed for the task are not reimbursed the expenses incurred by them on travelling and those related to diem spending. We have learnt that even for getting what they spent from out of their pockets for undertaking this exercise, the concerned personnel having made ”numerous representations” to the UT Finance Department speaks poor about managing things . That the proof of pudding was in its eating , right from this elementary ingredient of the exercise, it can be safely noticed as to how much seriousness was accorded to the important job of conducting physical verification of the assets created and those in the process of getting created. On the face of it, the directives were covering almost all aspects of how to undertake the exercise as the designated officials /officers had to earmark three days a week for undertaking the exercise and submit monthly progress report by 5th of each month. Again, having set a target of 100 percent verification of all projects and for that, district level institutional set up claimed to having been set up like measures in recently released document by the UT Finance Department , we are afraid, is not congruent with the ground realities. The data reveals that only 6561 projects are supposed to have been ”verified” in 2019-20 by Regional Directors of Economics and Statistics Department. As against a target of 16000 projects for the accounting year 2020- 21, only 1085 projects have been verified. Agreed, constraints and limitations of the COVID pandemic have increasingly upset the entire applecartof projections, targets and their completion but such a yawning gap between the targets set and achievements, speak lackadaisical approach and practically after issuing directives in high spirits of getting things done , however, are not followed up vigorously to be translated into reality. For better results, on the other hand, it is imperative that there was better coordination between different departments and agencies to cut down on time and derive better results. A more concerted review of the exercise in totality is required for obtaining desired results and the ordinary looking but intrinsic to the entire exercise, paying travelling and diem allowances and charges to the verification conducting teams, well either in advance or reimbursed immediately on submitting the bills by them, would go a long way in achieving the results which otherwise due to the prevailing pandemic conditions are severely under various restrictions. Aarogya
Follow our WhatsApp channel