Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 5: Notwithstanding the clear directions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the monitoring of schemes being executed along the India-Pakistan and India-China borders under Border Area Development Programme (BADP) of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has remained abysmally very slow in Jammu and Kashmir. Due to this, the inhabitants of the border areas are raising eyebrows with regard to the quality of work.
According to the official document available with EXCELSIOR, the concerned authorities of Jammu and Kashmir have been paying scant regard to the important aspect of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines relating to monitoring of the works being executed on India-Pakistan and India-China borders.
While launching BADP scheme, the Government of India had laid much emphasis on the regular monitoring of the works so as to ensure quality of the work that too up to the expectations of the inhabitants of the border areas.
On the directions of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Jammu and Kashmir Government had during the year 2012-13 launched Android based mobile application called “JKPULSE” for effective monitoring of the BADP works by all the concerned authorities, sources said.
The objective behind the launch of the Android based mobile application was to ensure inspection of works with real time updating of data and pictures having geo coordinates (latitude and longitude) and time and date stamps.
In order to ensure effective use of this Android based mobile application, all the concerned officers including the District Development Commissioners of border districts were provided with Samsung mobile.
The Department of Planning and Development, J&K Government vide Order No.22 dated March 1, 2013 even issued directions for strict compliance by all the concerned while ensuring monitoring of BADP projects through Android based mobile application (JKPULSE), sources informed.
As per these directions, the respective District Development Commissioners were required to ensure implementation of application in their respective districts through implementing agencies and field level officials—BDOs, XEns and AEEs etc
Through this order, all the field officers responsible for executing the BADP programme were directed to make mandatory visits to the work sites and take the photograph of work through the mobile application before commencement of work and periodically update it by depicting the physical and financial progress.
It was also made it clear through this order that performance of officers in implementing this monitoring mechanism at each level will be reflected in their APRs, sources said.
Shockingly, neither the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs nor the order of Planning and Development Department of J&K are being adhered to by the concerned authorities, they said.
This can be gauged from the official document available with EXCELSIOR, which indicates that inspection of only 872 schemes under BADP was carried out by the concerned authorities against total 4121 ongoing works in Jammu and Kashmir along the Indo-Pak and Indo-China border.
In Bandipora district, inspection of only 3 schemes has been carried out against total 60 going on in the border areas while as in Baramulla, only 36 schemes were inspected against a total of 303.
Similarly, concerned authorities have 211 out of 599 schemes in Jammu, only one out of 143 in Kargil, 51 against 255 in Kathua, 10 against 914 in Kupwara, 40 against 435 in Leh, 142 against 461 in Poonch, 286 against 609 in Rajouri and 77 against 318 in Samba.
“Due to very slow inspection of the BADP schemes, eyebrows are being raised by the inhabitants of the border areas”, sources said, adding “they (inhabitants of border areas) are of the saying that in the absence of proper inspection poor quality of work is being executed and they are being deprived of the benefits of the scheme of Ministry of Home Affairs”.
Taking serious note of very slow progress in inspection of BADP schemes, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as well as Screening Committee of Jammu and Kashmir Government has directed the District Development Commissioners to get the inspections expedited so that quality of the work is ensured and the objective behind BADP is achieved.
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