Developmental projects and administrative approvals

A weird situation is seen in most of the cases in respect of various projects in Jammu and Kashmir in different areas awaiting administrative approval while in case of many, which were started in the absence of such approval and left mid-way, have their fate hanging in the balance and that also for years in a row. Is it the way the State administration is habitually working or the crisis erupts on account of mismatch of different endowments which otherwise were expected to work in tandem and in a united way to have a particular project started and completed without encountering problems?
Readers may recall that through these lines, we have been regularly pointing out the created mess over the years in the state and how under different solutions , languishing projects numbering hundreds, were sought to be completed to enable the people reap the fruits thereof. Governor’s administration, taking stock of the disarray and the muddle in the subject matter, has devised a mechanism whereby the tangle could be overcome to benefit the people. Stress has again been laid on meticulously following the Rules Books dealing with financial powers, delegation of powers and according administrative powers so as to remove avoidable anomalies and the jumble . The invite to predicaments of different hue in respect of developmental projects is mostly starting them without proper administrative approval and largely with an aim to serve the ego of the politicians who keep promising “arranging approvals” in the immediate near future.
Governor’s administration, undoubtedly , is trying to stem the mess by regularly and periodically assessing the position in respect of such projects and trying to salvage the position inherited by the administration and side by side, expressing concerns about possibilities of recurrence of such a scenario. In a recently held high level meeting, while expressing concern over the prevailing situation, approvals and sanctions were decided to be accorded to the on-going works as per delegation of powers and guidelines issued by the Finance Department. Well, such exercises have been conducted in the past too but the question is as to why are delegation of powers and adherence to guidelines especially by the Finance Department conveniently violated. This is a vicious circle and needed to be broken for which severe administrative cum disciplinary measures were required to be taken.
Agreed, a list has to be submitted to the Finance Department of such projects which were either started without due approvals or started but needed such authorisation, has a message behind which needs to be understood in the sense that the administration wants to resolve the issue somehow regarding approvals, only to see that the held up projects were taken up for speedy completion in a time bound manner. Why should the same yardstick as applied in respect of centrally sponsored schemes and projects be not applied to the state projects in the sense that approval of the Detailed Project Report by the Central Government is deemed as approval by itself ? Perhaps, the reason could be in respect of ambiguity about the availability of funds support as centrally sponsored schemes have an in-built funds support base. Tendering processes as per guidelines, prices ascertaining from different vendors, no nomination practices, more transparency, ruling out delays and cost escalations, assured funds support, regular inspections and audits and the like must follow proper sanctions and approvals of various developmental projects and starting any project without proper approval must be termed as akin to committing financial irregularities.

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