MARGAO
Plans by these 69 enterprising youngsters belonging to the tribal communities to set up their own enterprise in the manufacturing, business and service sector under the Tribal Employment Generation Programme (GTEGP) scheme seems to have hit a big hurdle for no fault of theirs.
Blame it on government red tape and bureaucratic lethargy, these applicants have no option than to keep their fingers crossed whether the government will fund their proposals to start their project. The reason is simple. They have been knocking the doors of the Director of Industries, Trade and Commerce and other agencies, including the Tribal Multipurpose Co-operative Society, since the last two years, but in vain.
Last time around when they had called on the authorities to inquire on the status of their applications, officials blamed the delay in finalising the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
At a media briefing, Rupesh Velip and others contended that it is strange that the Industries department is taking an year to draft and finalise an MoU and get it approved from the departments concerned.
“We understand that funds to the tune of `1.58 crore meant for our projects were approved by the Finance department in March 2015, but the same could not be released and is now pending with the Directorate of Accounts as the Industries Department has not submitted the MoU as required by the Accounts Department. The Industries Department is yet to do the needful on their part, and as a result that funds meant for the tribal youth has not been deposited in the accounts of the Tribal Multipurpose Co-operative Credit Society since the last one year,” he said.
The applicants has sought to know from the Industries department to explain
and justify why it required two long years to process the applications from the applicants.
“When funds to the tune of `380 crore remains unutilized under the Tribal Sub-plan till date, will the government explain the delay over the release of funds for the applicants when the cost of the projects is just `3 crore?” they asked.
Tribal leader from Sao Jose de Areal, Peter Viegas, has set one month deadline for the government to resolve the problem or face a day-long dharna in front of the Directorate of Industries.
