Civil bodies: Commission highlights deficiencies in Plan implementation

Thiruvananthapuram: The State Finance Commission has observed that the appointment of project coordinators, formation of working groups, stake holder consultation and development seminar for drawing up annual plans of civic bodies were not doing much good.

The Commission, which held sittings in Kollam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram districts, told a press conference that such measures only delayed preparation of Plan by three to five months.

The grama sabhas met once a year to discuss Plan. However, most of those attending the sabha were women and beneficiaries of NREGA and Kudambasree project. They were keen on discussing only benefits due to them individually. General problems of wards and development issues did not get much attention at the meetings, Chairman B. A. Prakash said.

The projects being submitted to the district planning committee were incomplete. Projects with detailed estimates were being submitted only later. This delayed technical clearance for the project till September and November.

Then, another month or two were required to complete procedures for awarding contracts. As a result, the engineering projects were being implemented from January to March. Most of the funds were being spent either in March or in February and March. This was the situation with respect to most of the district panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations.  As a result, proper inspections of the works were not being carried, the Chairman said.

In block and grama panchayats, the expenditure was spread over several months. However, as the funds are dividend on the basis of wards, the number of projects goes up. This caused problems.  Project implementation deteriorates further because of shortage of engineers and officials, change in project implementation norms and treasury restrictions at the end of the financial year. Implementation of most of the project through beneficiary committees also affected quality, the Chairman said.

He said that the Commission would submit the second part of its report shortly recommending measures to improve project implementation and changes needed to the laws.