Excelsior Correspondent
GUWAHATI, Oct 3: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh announced here today new revised guidelines prepared by the Ministry of DoNER regarding Department Project Reports (DRPs), Utilisation Certificates (UCs) etc. with the objective of expediting development projects in Northeast by simplifying procedures to avoid delay and at the same time bring in more transparency.
At a meeting with the State Administration of Assam attended by State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Secretary Vinod Kumar Pipersenia and other senior officers from Government of Assam and Ministry of DoNER and North Eastern Council (NEC), Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that judicious time-bound planning and monitoring of projects using Space technology, satellite imaging and IT tools like Portal and App will be put to optimum use to avoid undue delays. At the same time, he said, use of Space technology can bring in more transparency and authenticity in Utilisation Certificates (UCs) submitted for various projects.
Emphasising on the completion of the ongoing projects without resorting to parking of funds, Dr Jitendra Singh made it clear, no fresh sanction for new projects will normally be issued if unspent balance of State is more than 1.5 times of the normative allocation of the State on account or Utilisation Certificates (UCs) due is more than 5 per cent of the total release. The introduction of online submission of documents should leave no excuse for delay in file work, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh also advised the State Governments to prepare Department Project Reports (DPRs) and get them vetted techno-economically and recommended from SLEC in order to avoid delay.
Lauding the innovative and fast track approach adopted by the Ministry of DoNER, Dr Jitendra Singh said, there has been a substantial jump in the release of funds and submission of UCs in the last two and a half years in which a total of Rs.252.54 crore has been released. Citing figures, he said, in 2014-15, when the present Government took over, a total of Rs. 60.46 crore was released for NLCPR projects in whole of the year while in the current financial year of 2016-17, in the first 6 months itself, Rs. 92.67 crore has already been released.
Earlier, soon after his arrival here this morning, Dr Jitendra Singh called on the new Governor of Assam, Banwarilal Purohit, who took over his present assignment recently. Dr Jitendra Singh also hailed the Sarbananda Sonowal led Government in State which, he said, during the first few months after taking over, has started pushing things on fast track.
State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma suggested revisiting of the earlier projects which had somehow got delayed or shelved so that it could be decided whether to continue with them or abandon them.
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