Nasir Azam
Srinagar, Oct 6: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pulled up the Jammu & Kashmir government for poor progress in completion of roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
In its report tabled in the Parliament on September 23, the CAG has pointed out poor performance of the authorities in implementation of 100 percent centrally funded rural road connectivity program in J&K. “Out of sanctioned 1,769 road projects involving road length of 9,383.07 kilometers under construction during 2013-18, only 810 road projects (46 per cent) having a road length of 4,172.50 kilometers were completed as of March 2018,” reads the report, a copy of which is with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
“The year-wise completion rate of road projects during 2013-18 ranged between 8 to 19 per cent. Due to problems in land acquisition, forest clearance, etc. 467 road projects (road length: 2,577.88 km) sanctioned prior to April 2013 for connecting 175 habitations were incomplete, as of March 2018.”
The report also lays bare that planning for implementation of PMGSY in J&K was deficient as district rural road plan was neither prepared in most of the sampled programme implementation units nor approved from the intermediate panchayat/ district panchayat/ district rural development department and state level standing committee.
“Core Network did not cover all the eligible habitations, inadmissible road projects were included in the Core Network and road projects which were not in Core Network were taken up for execution,” the report states.
The monitoring and quality of works executed under the scheme has also been questioned by the CAG.
“No Action Taken Reports (ATRs) were submitted by any of the PIUs in respect of 492 inspections conducted by the State Quality Monitors during 2013-14 to 2017-18,” it states.
According to the report, 159 inspections were graded as ‘Un-satisfactory’ and the remaining 333 ‘Required improvement’.
“In eight sampled districts, Action Taken Reports in respect of 221 inspections conducted was awaited from PIUs. Against 180 meetings required to be conducted by DVMC/ DISHA in nine sampled districts for monitoring the PMGSY works, only six meeting were conducted in two districts, during 2013-18,” it reads. (KNO)
CAG pulls up JK Govt for poor performance in execution of PMGSY works
