MARGAO
Blame it on bureaucratic red-tapism or simply funds constraints, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sansad Gram Panchayat Yojana has failed to take off till date in picturesque Rachol village.
More than a year after the village was adopted under the PM’s scheme, not a single project has taken off the ground in the village. Other than books received by the Panchayat from the Art and Culture Department, none of the projects mooted by the various departments have seen light of the day till date.
Indeed, several projects were mooted for the village a year ago under the scheme, but a year later, almost all these are still confined to the record books of various departments. The projects included construction of protective walls and bhandaras, desilting of ponds under the water resources department, construction of community hall under the Deen Dayal scheme, ornamental lighting and beautification by the tourism department, upgradation of a playground by the sports department, besides a couple of projects under the tribal department.
SAGY is a village development project launched by the Centre in October 2014, under which each Member of Parliament was given the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in three villages by 2019.
Even projects mooted by Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik, who has been instrumental in adopting Rachol village under the scheme, have not come to fruition.
Ask village Sarpanch Joseph Vaz and don’t be surprised to find him disgusted with the government machinery for its lackadaisical attitude towards projects mooted by the villagers under the scheme. “Ever since Rachol was adopted under this scheme, I must have made at least 40 trips to the water resources department constantly following up on the projects, but in vain. The department is playing games. Nothing has happened despite the village panchayat complying with the paper work. Our villagers had extended their cooperation to the government by leaving aside differences, all in the interest of the village. We are totally disappointed with the turn of events in the last one year,” Joseph lamented.
Citing another instance, Joseph said the Directorate of Panchayats had approved a community hall under the Deen Dayal scheme a year ago. “Now after a year, the panchayat director says a consultant has been appointed for the project. We have lost valuable time in the process,” he added. “When the PM had announced the scheme, we were happy that since the BJP was ruling fund allocation and project implementation will not be a big problem. It now appears the government is not serious in implementing the scheme. We have lost faith in it,” he said.
When The Goan called up Shantaram Naik, he attributed bureaucratic red-tapism as the reason for the scheme not taking off coupled with lack of funds. “When the scheme was unveiled by the PM, there was no provision for central funding. Only the existing schemes under the central and state governments were to be implemented depending on the availability of funds,” Naik said and added, “Even projects mooted under my MPLAD scheme have not taken off in Rachol due to bureaucratic delays.”
The Rajya Sabha MP had sanctioned a sub-health centre, illumination, e-community toilets and hearse van for the village, but not a single project has seen light of the day till date. “Though the sub-health centre was sanctioned around a year ago, the NOC is yet to be granted by the health department,” he said.
While Rachol is yet to get what was promised to it under the scheme, the Prime Minister has plans to adopt a second village. However, Rajya Sabha MP said he would think of adopting the second village only after meeting with the Union Rural Development Minister. “The scheme needs fine tuning and dedicated funds. Unless, the government takes a close look at the scheme, there’s no point in adopting the second village when developmental projects are still to commence in the first village,” Naik added.
