O J’s Corner

Remove blocks and
Implement projects

The scenario with regard to Plan funds utilization and execution of works in the State is dismal. The sorry state of affairs has a deleterious impact on the developmental projects, planned to be executed in various departments of the government as well as thousands of local bodies in the State. One cannot even sympathise with those who are constitutionally authorised to aid and advise and execute developmental works. It has become evident that they have been paying only lip service to the duty enjoined upon their positions.

Taking stock of the performance of fiscal 2007-2008, the Planning Board has pointed out that upto October, the actual spending was to the tune of 25 per cent of the allocations. That means, of the total Rs 6,950 crore plan budget for various departments, the amount spent was only Rs 1,750 crore.

The performance of local bodies was worse. These constitutional institutions could spend only six per cent of the total Rs 1,790 crore allotted to them. Mind you, the local bodies are destined to get huge amounts directly from the Central Government for various popular schemes.

One cannot particularly blame the prevalent or previous governments about lackadaisical execution of works. The Planning Board has noted that this year the performance was better than the previous years. Which underscores the need for total revamp of the scheme of things for getting the plans implemented.

Initially, the projects have to be crafted with wide-ranging discussions which take considerable time. Then schemes have to be prioritised and pinpointed in accordance with the probable devolution of funds that may be made available. Then these projects have to fetch approval from district and state level overseeing bodies, which are prone to sit on the schemes for considerably long time. Finally, there has to be governmental approval, as the case may be.


Approval from the respective end-agencies of the local bodies, or if need be from the government, is not the be-all and the end-all. One has to get financial clearance from the finance department. This will naturally consume more time than the previous exercises as the bureaucrats have to get hair-thin explanations from the scheme proposers for anything and everything.

It is beyond comprehension, why many of these final exercises are needed after budget allocation for local bodies. No local body is constitutionally authorised to draw up deficit budgets. They can craft only surplus budgets. That means funds are there. Then they should be automatically cleared for spending their allotted money. There may be legal and constitutional hitches, but legal lacunae should be removed immediately.

The state of affairs have been hanging on all these years, to the detriment of the developmental needs of the people. Departmental heads should be empowered to spend the money allotted to them without waiting for still more clearances. Those who err should be caught and punished in course of time.

One should take inspiration from developed countries in the matter of authority to spend. Authorities should be empowered to use their right. Otherwise, the officials would always put up the file “for orders”, when they have the power to use their discretion and execute the project. For actualising this procedure, the political masters should not stand in the way of well-meaning actions taken by constitutional authorities below them. Local bodies have been bestowed with considerable amount of autonomy. But this should not remain on paper.

Planning board, finance department and political masters should not stand in the way of time-bound execution of schemes which are meant for the all-round development of the State.