Experience shows that development is not always simple and without hassles. Even if funding is not a problem, development may not take place strictly according to the blue print drawn for various projects. Foremost obstruction in development plans is absence of coordination among various departments involved in the process. This is amply brought out in the report of the 43rd Estimates Committee of Legislative Assembly placed before the House. A good number of projects taken in hand have not been either completed or never given the kick-start. In particular, the project of connecting all villages through roads and bridges has suffered largely owing to reasons best known to the agencies that were entrusted with the execution of the work.
The shoddy way in which some centrally sponsored schemes have been handled leaves much to be desired. PMGSY, NABARD and CRF are major enterprises undertaken by the Central Government to overcome economic disadvantages in rural areas of the country including Jammu and Kashmir. The report of the Estimates Committee finds no convincing reason for not implementing Prime Minister’s Gramin Sadak Yojna which has already provided funds for extensive connectivity in the rural areas of the State. The bottom line of this project is that a village with as low a population as 250 souls should also be connected and should be accessible. Parameters of this scheme are broad and if it were implemented in letter and in spirit, the rural state would present a different economic picture. Even if the roads have been built, these are not maintained and soon after they are declared as completed projects, they turn into potholes and become unserviceable. There should have been a mechanism of periodical repairing of these roads as these are mostly spread over hilly area where rain, snow and landslides often block the roads or wipe them away. Same is the condition of the bridges. The report says that crucial bridges for which blue prints have been made are left without being completed. Dealing with the reasons of non-completion of the roads, the report reflects on the complaint of the R&B Department that contractors from outside the state leave the site once they receive advance funds. This issue needs to be tackled into its generality. Contractors generally complain that payments are withheld for long time even after the works completed. They speak about corruption among the departmental authorities as the major cause of withholding their money. Whether the complaint of the contractors is true or false cannot be ascertained by outsiders. Inefficiency and non-accountability of the functionaries who look after the execution of projects are also the entrenched malaise to be eradicated.
The report has also made some useful suggestions which the Government ought to take into consideration. Adopting casual approach to developmental projects is unacceptable. This will be explained by the fact that out of 400 cases of road construction filed with the forest department, 101 are pending. It means that road connectivity through the area which falls within the forest jurisdiction of these 101 cases will remain pending for indefinite time. But the PMGSY provides funds that are time bound and are released only for such projects as have been completed within the time frame. Thus on the one hand we do not have the rural road and on the other we lose the funds provided for it. The Estimates Committee suggests that such matters should be dealt with on priority. The second suggestion is that the funds should be released at proper time and without hassle to ensure the completion of a project in hand. Citing an example the report says that against the requirement of almost 224 crore rupees for the construction/completion of the bridges the department received only 13.50 crore that too at the fag end of the financial year. Is this the way how we can make speedy development?
An important observation made by the Estimates Committee is that in many cases of rural developmental projects, concerned MLAs, MLCs have not been consulted or taken into confidence. This is negation of democratic dispensation of our country. The elected representatives of the people are the persons most concerned with the developmental programme in their respective constituencies. The policy is that at least one project should be initiated and completed in each constituency of the State in a year. If this policy has to be pursued then the MLAs have to be taken on board. Engineers assigned to frame the plan for development in a given constituency many not be able to assess other aspects of the project besides technical ones. The other aspects have to be left to the local elected representatives. In short the government has to bring the entire issues of rural development under review. Taking the remarks an observations of the Estimates Committee into consideration, a long term policy needs to be framed that will ensure proper execution and completion of projects undertaken either as Centrally sponsored and supported programme or initiated by the State Government.
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