State to form District Planning and Monitoring Units

To strengthen the planning machinery at the district level, the Orissa government has decided to set up District Planning and Monitoring Units (DPMU) in all districts of the state.

The planning and co-ordination department has sought the approval of the government for constitution of the DPMUs, sources said.

The proposed DPMUs will be vested with the task of formulating District Level Plans (DLPs) and would create and maintain data base of their own.

It would be headed by a designated minister while the collector of the concerned district would be its member secretary. Two to three experts would be roped in as members of this district level body.

“We have sought the approval of the government following which we will constitute the DPMUs”, R V Singh, special secretary, planning and co-ordination department said. The recent developments in the planning process have necessitated the constitution of such a body at the district level.

The present manpower availability in the District Planning Committees (DPCs), which ranges from 4 to 5 employees, is inadequate to take a huge exercise like framing district level plans.

The DPCs are currently headed by designated ministers chosen by the state government and include about 16-20 members picked up from among the members of Zilla parishads (ZP) and the urban local bodies (ULBs) of the concerned district.

The DPMUs, sources said, would collect data pertaining to the plan from various government departments and agencies and would submit the plan to the DPCs for approval. After the district plans are approved by the DPCs, they would be sent to the government for incorporation in the state plan.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Planning Commission is expected to visit Orissa in the next month to review the progress of various plans implemented in the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) area.

A decision on the Eight Year Perspective Plan (2009-17) for KBK districts envisaging an outlay of Rs 4550 crore may be taken by the Centre after this visit.