ApnaBundelkhand.com, New Delhi: Three months after the Union Cabinet
cleared a Rs 7,266-crore package for Bundelkhand, the politically
charged backward region comprising districts of UP and Madhya Pradesh,
has still not received a single paisa of the targeted finances as flow
of funds has got entangled in administrative red-tape between Centre and
the states.
The first
installment of Rs 760 crore, approved weeks ago by the Finance Ministry
to be spent in Bundelkhand, continues to lie unused as the sides
concerned toss proposals at each other with reworked figures and
demands. National Rainfed Authority chairman J S Samra, who is
overlooking implementation of the Bundelkhand package, however,
maintained that such procedural delays were not unusual. He said his
effort would be to ensure flow of Rs 760 crore to both states by this
month-end.
UPA sources though
admit that unease on the part of both Mayawati as well as the Shivraj
Singh Chauhan governments over the Bundelkhand package, which has now
been identified with Rahul Gandhi’s political gameplan of pursuing a
developmental agenda for the region, has indirectly contributed to the
delay. Initially, the Mayawati government sent a Rs 5,000-crore proposal
for Bundelkhand which the Centre had to reject and ask them to send
fresh proposals that were in accordance with schemes worked out by the
Union government.
The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, on
the other hand, had met both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance
Minister Pranab Mukherjee last month and demanded similar packages for
Bagelkhand, Vindhyas and Mahakoshal regions. There were further delays
when state officials connected to the Bundelkhand package implementation
were either transferred or retired, forcing the Central officials to
start afresh with the new appointees. The BSP and BJP’s wariness has
only increased after Bundelkhand’s status for availing central funds was
further upgraded last month with the Centre agreeing to meet 90 per
cent of the cost of irrigation projects for the drought-hit region. The
normal Central assistance for irrigation projects in other states is 75
per cent.
"There might be
initial hiccups as do some prioritising. Instead of getting approval for
new schemes which would have taken even more time, we have decided to
support ongoing schemes of the state governments in Bundelkhand region
that had been held up because of want of funds,” Samra said.
According to UPA
functionaries, the careful manner in which the schemes have been devised
makes it very difficult for the funds to be diverted elsewhere by the
states. As part of this objective, the Centre has asked the states to
set up monitoring mechanisms for the schemes at the district levels.
"This has been done essentially to
facilitate convergence of schemes,” Samra said. Central officials from
the ministries of agriculture and forests will be visiting the region
next month.
