‘Institutional structures created for chalking out development plans’
Admn asked to declare official language of UT expeditiously
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 19: Several steps have been taken to address the slow rate of funds utilization in the Union Territory of Ladakh, which due to its extreme climatic and difficult terrain is having limited working season, and institutional structures have been created for chalking out developmental plans after due consultation with all the stakeholders.
This has been conveyed to the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in response to the recommendations and observations made by the Parliamentary Panel, which had expressed disappointment over persistent under-utilization of funds by the Union Territory of Ladakh.
“Ladakh with its extreme climate and difficult terrain has limited working season of 6 to 8 months and developmental projects depend mainly on migrant labour”, the MHA said, adding onset of the working season was impacted by the COVID 2nd wave and thus there was delay in migration of skilled and unskilled labour in Ladakh. Nearly 3-4 initial months of the working season were lost in the COVID 2nd wave resulting into under-utilization of funds.
However, utilization of funds has improved substantially in the financial year 2021-22 as compared to the previous financial year 2020-21. An expenditure of Rs 3795.78 crore (63.71%) was incurred in the financial year 2021-22 out of the Budget Estimates of Rs 5958 crore as compared to Rs 2374 crore (39.85%) in the financial year 2020-21, which is an increase of 23.86%, the MHA said.
Though the Parliamentary Panel has appreciated the improvement of 23.86% in the fund utilization in the financial year 2021-22 yet it has asserted that fund utilization should be more efficient with well-thought out planning and timely execution of projects. Hence, the Committee has further recommended that the UT Administration may chalk out the developmental plan considering the availability of migrant labour and the limited working season so that the works can be executed within the stipulated time.
The MHA has further conveyed to the Parliamentary Panel that several steps have been taken to address the slow rate of funds utilization. To improve the capacity of existing executing agencies, trainings of officials in GFR, GeM, PFMS, e-Office, Government Process Reeengineering, Cold Climate appropriate construction techniques/technologies etc are being conducted. Similarly, to augment the work execution capacity of the UT, major works have been allotted to CPWD, CPSUs like NHIDCL and WAPCOS.
Moreover, the Sindhu Infrastructure Development Corporation (SIDCO) has been made functional and departments have been asked to identify works for execution through SIDCO. Further, to plan and prepare DPR for the execution of big- ticket infrastructural projects, Project Management Units (PMUs) and Consultants have been engaged and directions have been issued for approval of Action Plan on time and completion of administrative formalities before the beginning of the financial year. Even instructions have been issued to the departments to plan and prioritize project/scheme proposals well in advance as & when budget ceiling is conveyed, the MHA has pointed out.
About the expenditure by Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils, the MHA said that the expenditure by the LAHDCs for the financial year 2021- 22 was 91% and 94.63% respectively at the end of 31st March 2022 and thus both the LAHDCs were able to exhaust the budgetary provisions without any major surrender that too when working season was affected by COVID-19 2nd wave.
“The matter regarding non-lapsibility of funds allotted to UT of Ladakh was taken up with Ministry of Finance and the Department of Expenditure, after examining the matter, with the approval of Finance Minister, has conveyed that Ladakh is a Union Territory and the cash balances of the UT and Government of India are one and the same and the proposal for creation of a Non-Lapsable Pool for Ladakh shall only be a duplication of the exercise and therefore appears to be unnecessary”, the MHA has conveyed to the Parliamentary Panel.
Stating that LAHDCs are being consulted in the formulation of development plans, programmes and policies and the overall plan of UT is prepared based on demands and aspirations of various elected bodies including PRIs, LAHDCs and MP, the MHA has pointed towards institutional structures that have been created for this purpose.
“The UT Planning Board has been constituted to give representation to the LAHDCs. The Ladakh Vision 2050 plan has been finalized by the Board. Moreover, the UT Administration, for chalking out the development plans, is regularly organizing development conclaves. In the 1st Development Conclave, the vision, mission and the draft action plan of each department for the next five years were presented and discussed with the public representatives and the deliberations will be taken up to expand and fine-tune the Action Plans by the departments”, the Ministry said.
The other institutional structures are creation of State Board of Wildlife, Ladakh Disaster Management Authority (LDMA), DISHA Committee and Health Society of UT of Ladakh.
“Moreover, involvement of LAHDCs in the implementation of development plans especially Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) is being ensured. Further, Hill Councils have been also been assigned the role of identification of beneficiaries under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes”, the MHA said, adding “funds are also being devolved to the Block Development Councils at the rate of Rs 10 lakh and Gram Panchayats at the rate of Rs 20 lakh for formulation of their own plan as per the need to improve village infrastructure”.
Pointing towards the recommendation of Parliamentary Panel regarding official language of UT, the MHA said that with regard to declare the official language of UT of Ladakh and to notify the third language under New Education Policy for the UT of Ladakh, the Administration of UT has been requested to take appropriate action in this regard as early as possible.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
