J&K has poorly performed under Swachh Bharat Mission launched by the Prime Minister on October 2, 2014. The scheme has two branches, Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin and the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban. The scheme carries the time line of October 2019. As we know the Government has the mechanism of monitoring the progress of the scheme in all States and Union Territories. Regrettably by the criterion laid down by the organizers of the scheme J&K has made very poor performance. Given the state of affairs and the way in which the scheme is implemented, one is not at all sure whether the State will be able to deliver the goods. Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is disappointed at the dismal performance of the State. The need of introducing the Swachh Bharat Gramin in our villages is to bring awareness to the people on two counts, one that the villages have to be kept clean and second villages have to be made free from open defection. (ODF). Three years have gone by when the mission was launched. Only two years are at the disposal of the State Government to bring the mission to completion. The question is that is it possible for the State to keep the time lime when its performance during the three years has been dismal.
Casting a glance around we have always found that in the case of most of the Centrally sponsored schemes the State has not been able to keep the time schedule with the result that either funds lapse or these are slashed down. In either case the damage is done to the people of the State. We had at a number of times suggested the State Government to constitute a committee of senior bureaucrats to examine the reasons why Centrally sponsored schemes are delayed despite the fact that funding is not a problem. For example, to improve the level of cleanliness through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and making villages Open Defecation Free (ODF) why the concerned Government Department is not able to introduce the mechanism and save the environment from getting polluted. After all it is a matter closely connected with the health for the people.
During the current year, J&K’s performance has been measured at 37.02 percent and it is ahead only of Bihar among all the States and Union Territories in the country. Astonishingly, Daman and Diu left not only J&K but many other States behind within a period of one year by gearing up the activities. The Government should wake up and try to find the root cause of numerous Centrally sponsored schemes getting invariably delayed. A solution has to be found to save other Centrally sponsored schemes of development.
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