Neeraj Rohmetra
Jammu, July 27: To ensure better transparency in implementation of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes initiated by the Union Rural Development Ministry, the State Government has issued directions for strict implementation of Online Management and Monitoring system.
These instructions were communicated to the State Government after some officials of the Union Ministry expressed reservations over the implementation of these schemes in the State. “The Online Management, Monitoring and Account System (OMMAS) provides a unique mechanism to monitor all the schemes at all levels on time to time basis”, official sources said adding that the implementing agencies shall need to upload data pertaining to schemes on regular basis.
Officials of Union Rural Ministry had emphatically conveyed these instructions recently to the implementing agencies while releasing grants pertaining to road connectivity under Phase-VIII New Connectivity under Bharat Nirman, Normal PMGSY and Long Span Bridges involving an amount of nearly Rs 1248 crores. The grant had been recently released due to personal intervention of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had taken up the issue with the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
“The grants are aimed to take up the next phase of the projects under implementation while as some funds will be utilized for new projects planned this year”, sources asserted. While implementing these schemes, the officials shall need to upload the State Quality Monitoring (SQM) report on the OMMAS system and also feed other details including maintenance expenditure as per contracts, certification of accounts.
The grants approved included nearly Rs 310 crores under Bharat Nirman Stage-I, nearly Rs 851 crores under PMGSY Stage -II, Rs 21 crores under Normal PMGSY and Stage-I (for border blocks), Rs 55 crores for Long Span Bridges and Rs 9.45 crores under R&B Stage-II.
For affective implementation of schemes like PMGSY, the State Government as per the directions of Union Ministry has constituted Programme Implementation Units (PIUs) at the District level and their objective is to co-ordinate and implements these schemes.
Official sources stated that these PIUs have to make sure that the rural roads constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) must meet the technical specifications and geometric design standards given in the Rural Roads Manual of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) and also, where required, the Hill Roads Manual.
Further, the choice of design and surface for the road would be determined, inter alia, by factors like traffic, soil type and rainfall, following the technical specifications laid down in the Rural Roads Manual. Normally rural roads would need to be designed to carry upto 45 commercial vehicles per day (CVPD) only.
Commissioner Secretary PWD, Tanveer Jehan when contacted told EXCELSIOR that the Department had successfully implemented OMMAS System for implementation of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes. “It is a unique system for maintaining adequate transparency while implementing the schemes and the same is being updated on regular basis”.
“The funds, which were recently released by the Union Development Ministry would help us implementing several ongoing and even new projects in far-flung and remote areas for economic betterment and welfare of the people”, she added.
The Union Rural Ministry had cleared 484 road works and 50 bridges with total length of 2651, costing nearly Rs 1248 crores for the State. It would help cover 10 inhabitations of 1000+ population each, 63 habitations of 500+ population each and 42 habitations for 250+ population each.
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