Group On Drf Disbursals Soon

Unable to decide on the modalities of the development reserve fund (DRF) disbursal , the Planning Commiss-ion is considering to set up an inter-ministerial group to settle the issue.

Planning Commission deputy chairman K C Pant has written to the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and is expected to meet finance minister Yashwant Sinha tomorrow to discuss the issue.

The proposed group may have representatives from the plan panel and the finance ministry. It will have to work out where the funds should go and the modalities of fund disbursal.

Plan panel officials feel the finance ministry should handle the money and therefore the finance ministry representatives should be included in the group.

The guidelines for disbursal of the Rs 2,500-crore fund were to be finalised by May so that disbursal could start within the first quarter of the current fiscal. However, there has not been much progress on the issue.

Among the issues to be decided is whether the fund should be a central sector scheme or a centrally-sponsored scheme. Also, funds cannot be distributed district-wise as this was not the intent of the finance minister