Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 8: The Government today directed the District Development Board (DDB) Chairpersons and Commissioners to brace up for holding the DDB meetings immediately after the State’s annual plan finalisation on May 20. The early DDB meetings were aimed at timely completion of the development works during the current financial year.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Government has asked Chairpersons and Commissioners of all 22 DDBs to set into motion the exercise for holding the Development Board meetings any time after May 20 when annual plan of the State would be finalised in New Delhi in a meeting between Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Last year, the Government had gone for DDB meetings before the finalisation of annual plan for 2012-13. The annual plan finalisation during the last year was delayed as the Planning Commission had approved it on July 13. However, this year the plan finalisation was scheduled for May 20 i.e. more than one and a half months in advance than the previous financial year.
In 2012-13, the Government had released the plan for all districts at par with 2011-12. However, the additional amount was released later before the closure of financial year to the districts depending upon their requirement and expenditure.
“For the current financial year, the Government has decided to hold the DDB meetings after the finalisation of annual plan as the plan finalisation has been advanced. We would have a clear idea of our plan amount and funds under other Centrally Sponsored Schemes including Prime Minister’s Re-construction Plan (PMRP) by the time the DDB meetings are held. This would help us in making allocations to the districts,” sources said.
On whether, the meetings of the District Development Boards, which are headed by the Ministers with District Development Commissioners (DDCs), who are also Deputy Commissioners in the districts as the Secretaries, would be attended by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah or his other Cabinet colleagues, sources said a decision on this would be taken after a schedule of the DDB meetings for different districts was announced.
It may be mentioned here that the Chief Minister himself happened to be chairman of DDBs of Jammu and Srinagar, the two rotational capital cities of the State.
Last year, the Chief Minister hadn’t attended the DDB meetings of other districts, which were presided over by the DDB chairpersons. The DDB review meetings, which were generally taken a couple of months before the closure of the financial year, were also not taken in 2012-13 either by the Chief Minister or by the chairpersons.
This year, various districts would have new chairpersons in view of January 15, 2013 reshuffle in the Council of Ministry in which some Ministers were dropped and new faces inducted. The Government has already nominated the new chairpersons of all DDBs.
The Government has also asked the District Development Commissioners to prepare agenda of the meetings in consultations with local Members of Parliament (MPs), MLAs, MLCs and other members of the Board. The agenda would be in addition to the on spot works recommended by the Board members including the MPs and the legislators, sources said.
The State Government has sought annual plan worth Rs 8050 crore and PMRP worth Rs 600 crore for 2013-14 as compared to Rs 7300 crore plan and Rs 700 crore PMRP in 2012-13.
The hike in annual plan over the previous year amounted to 10 per cent, sources said and hoped that the State would be able to secure the plan.
They said the Government has also sought re-validation of the amount, which was not released in its favour during last financial year.
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