Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 30: Jammu and Kashmir is all set to face embarrassment from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as none of its Legislators has till date shown any interest in identification of villages for holistic development under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), one of the ambitious schemes of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on October 11, 2014 on the birth anniversary of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan with the objective of keeping the soul of rural India alive by providing its people quality access to basic amenities and opportunities to enable them to shape their own destiny.
Within days after the launch of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana scheme, Prime Minister himself wrote to all the States including Jammu and Kashmir regarding implementation of the scheme and stressed on the need to create as many Adarsh Grams as possible.
Mr Modi even personally requested the Chief Ministers of all the States to make earnest appeal to the Members of Legislative Assembly and Members of Legislative Council to identify suitable Gram Panchayats in accordance with the guidelines of the scheme and give necessary leadership for transforming them into “Adarsh Grams”.
However, none of the Legislators of J&K including those of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is also ruling at the Centre, has taken this scheme seriously till date which is evident from the fact that no recommendation has been received in this regard by the Rural Development Department of the State, which is the nodal department for the implementation of the scheme, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
Though the legislators continued to avoid the scheme till date without any hesitation but they as well as the State Government are all set to face embarrassment from the Prime Minister’s Office, sources said while disclosing that Director Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana vide communication dated May 22, 2015 has brought the attention of the Secretary, Rural Development Department towards the letter of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister addressed to the Chief Secretary dated February 17, 2015 regarding making of an earnest appeal to all the MLAs/MLCs to identify Gram Panchayats in accordance with the guidelines of SAGY.
The Director has asked the Secretary Rural Development Department to intimate progress in identification of villages under this scheme so that the same could be conveyed to the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, sources informed. However, Jammu and Kashmir has nothing to show as progress as legislators have yet not taken the scheme seriously.
“What to talk of initiating steps towards adherence to the appeal made by the Prime Minister, majority of the legislators are not aware of the guidelines of the scheme, which can be gauged from the fact that Rural Development Department is planning to convene workshop for the legislators so as to facilitate them to understand the scheme and its objectives”, sources said. However, no date has so far been finalized for this activity.
They regretted that while Members of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir have been showing much interest in the scheme, the MLAs and MLCs have not bothered to consult them (MPs) so that villages to be transformed into Adarsh Grams are identified, which is a first step towards implementation of the scheme. “Whatsoever excuse may be communicated to the Centre, the fact remains that no interest has been shown in this scheme by the J&K Legislators despite having been elected more than two and half months back”, sources added.
“The legislators are only required to identify the villages and then oversee percolating of benefits to the identified villages under convergence of State schemes with SAGY but it is pity that they are not ready to perform this much of activity”, sources said.
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