Comprehensive District Plans by December

The Comprehensive Development Plans (CDPs) for all the district in Orissa will be ready by December.

The District Planning Committees (DPCs) have to finalise CDPs by the year end to enable the state government to send these plans to the Union government for receiving entitlements under the Backward Regions Grant Fund scheme.

Though the government had set the September deadline for the DPCs to send these plans, it could not be met as 19 out of the 30 districts in the state were affected by unprecedented flood, official sources said.

Keeping that in view, the government has given the DPCs more time to finalise the district plans. DPCs will formulate perspective plans pertaining to their district including the plans for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), Rastriay Krushi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), officials sources said.

A senior official of the Union ministry of Panchayatiraj will come to the state to examine the proposals after which these plans will be sent to the Union government for availing funds under BRGF.

D K Jain, Joint secretary, ministry of Panchayatiraj, Government of India, today reviewed the progress of utilisation of funds under the BRGF for 2007-08.The review showed that out of the total entitlement of Rs 325 crore, the Centre had given Rs 283 crore to the state.

Out of this, the state government has so far spent Rs 126 crore which is about 45 percent of the sanctioned amount. However, the remaining Rs 45 crore can be made available to the state only after it achieves utilisation of 60 percent of the sanctioned amount.

Sources said, though the average rate of utilisation was about 45 percent for all the districts covered under BRGF, 6-7 districts have achieved utilisation rate of more than 60 percent. These districts include Sonepur, Phulbani, Nuapada, Nawarangpur, Malkangiri, Gajapati, Dhenkanal.

However, the utilisation rate has been about 20 to 40 percent in the districts like Sundergarh, Bolangir, Keonjhar, Raygada, Kalahandi and Boudh. The utilisation rate is expected to reach 60 percent by the end of November, he added.