The government’s decision to give local bodies more flexibility in plan fund utilisation has been welcomed by panchayats and municipalities.
“The new decision will definitely help local bodies in effective and timely implementation of projects.
Currently several project proposals sent by local bodies are rejected by the Technical Adviso-ry Group (TAG) for no good reason and a lot of time is wasted in correspondence and other file work to get its sanction,” said Eldhose Kunnappa-lly, president, Ernakul-am district panchayat.
The State Development Committee, which discussed ways to improve utilisation of Plan funds and improve implementation of projects at its recent meeting , decided to bring in comprehensive changes in the process. The resulting new guidelines are expec-ted to be soon ratified by the cabinet.
Once approv-ed, all local bodies will be allowed to spend 55 per cent of the Plan funds according to their priorities while the rema-ining 45 per cent will be reserved for development of basic amenities.
Mayor Tony Chamma-ny is clearly happy that local bodies will no longer have to go through unnecessary procedures for project implementation with TAG no longer on the scene.
“Local bodies will now get more time to implement developmental projects which will in turn ensure more efficiency,” he said.
But Prathibha Hari, president , Alappuzha district panchayat feels there should be an alternative system to monitor the fund expenditure and project procedures need to be more simplified
President of Kozhikode district panchayat, Kaa-nathil Jameela, too beli-eves there should be an alternative system in pla-ce to monitor fund utilisation and project implementation.
“Although CM has allowed district panchayats to take back the roads surrendered to the PWD, funds have not been given to us for maintenance and repair,” she regretted.