Nabard fumes over slow progress of RIDF projects

The inordinate delay in the implementation of projects funded by National Bank of Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard) under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) in the state has drawn flak from the bank.

Venting its discontent, Nabard has stated that the extended project period of RIDF-XI will be terminated with effect from December 31 this year and that of RIDF-XII to XIV from March 31, 2012.

The state finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai expressed deep concern over the slow pace of implementation and expenditure under RIDF. He urged the departmental secretaries and the project authorities to rise to the occasion and achieve progress up to the desired extent.

Stating that adequate powers have been delegated to the concerned departments and required provisions have been made in the budget to enable them to go ahead with project implementation, Ghadai held that the status of RIDF projects would be reviewed again after the end of second quarter of 2011-12.

Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, principal secretary (finance), said the overall disbursement under the scheme has been affected due to the sluggish pace of expenditure, particularly in the department of water resources. He advised the Engineer-in-Chief, water resources, to regularly review and monitor RIDF projects.At a recent meeting on RIDF held under the chairmanship of the state finance minister, it was decided that the project authorities will accelerate the pace of implementation to ensure completion of the projects under RIDF-XI by December 31 this year and projects under RIDF-XII to XIV by March 31, 2012.

The concerned departments will furnish the list of projects dropped under RIDF-XI to XVI indicating clearly the reasons to the finance department by August 31. They will also report on the expenditure incurred, if any, on such projects.

In addition, the concerned departments will furnish the list of completed projects and the projects likely to be completed under RIDF-XI to XVI with expected date of completion by August 31.

The secretaries of the departments will review the progress of expenditure at monthly intervals keeping in view the provision made in the Budgetary Estimate for 2011-12 and the target set for expenditure. The secretaries will also furnish monthly reports to the finance department indicating the progress of expenditure vis-a-vis the target by the 10th of the succeeding month.

Moreover, the departments will ensure submission of detailed project reports in respect of the spillover projects cleared by the High Power Committee to the finance department by September 30 this year.

It may be noted, the department of fisheries and animal resources development (ARD) has the most number of pending projects (764) under RIDF-XI to XVI.

Of the 1174 projects sanctioned to the department, 308 have been commissioned, 866 are under execution while 764 projects are pending.

Next in the list of project pendency is the department of water resources where 487 projects are yet to be completed. As many as 5175 projects were sanctioned for this department of which 148 were dropped.

The department has commissioned 3912 projects whereas 1001 projects are under implementation.

In case of works department, 107 projects are under implementation while 48 are to be completed.

Similarly, the department of rural development has completed implementation of 120 projects while 38 are pending.