Centre flagship schemes draw Plan panel ire

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New Delhi, Sep 22: a sustained manner. Though the scheme has covered some habitations, quality of water remains an issue and “slipping back is a high probability as there are no holistic solutions and very little incentive to the community to undertake maintenance activities,” Hameed said suggesting roping in the civil society and the private sector to improve effectiveness.

Rajasthan is confident of meeting the target under PMGSY as it has a work satisfaction rate of 93% against the national average of 83% in the road sector. But a unique problem facing the state is that under PMGSY, road connectivity is to be provided to habitations with population of more than 1,000 and of more than 500 in hill states, tribal and desert areas. Rajasthan has only 619 habitations with a population of 1,000 or more and 2,390 habitations with population between 500 and 999. While it has almost exhausted coverage under PMGSY, 2,995 habitations in general areas with population between 250-499, 591 tribal habitations and 881 habitations in desert areas remain unconnected. To address this issue, Hameed has suggested convergence of the PMGSY with the NREG and changes in the latter guidelines to facilitate use of NREG funds.

The NREG has been performing well in the state but some of the complaints made by the people were provision of employment to just two people in case of joint families is inadequate, social audits are seldom done, complaint registers are not maintained and online monitoring system is incomplete. Amenities like drinking water and crèches, provisions mandatory under NREG, are not available at work sites.

Over reliance on panchayats has hampered the scheme’s ability to create durable assets and productive employment. Hameed has suggested involvement of government agencies like PWD for asset creation and self-employment. These agencies should be given 4% of the administrative charges for hiring staff.

Rajasthan, an educationally backward state, has made good progress under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). Since 2001-02, total enrollment has increased 43.25% and enrollment of girls has increased 59.58%.