Southern States
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Kerala
State to get Rs. 155 cr. for rural schemes
By Our Special Correspondent
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 24. Kerala would get approximately Rs. 155 crores from the Centre by February end this year under various Centrally-sponsored rural development programmes, the Minister for Rural Development, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, has said.
Mr. Naidu told a news conference here today that these schemes had been cleared at a discussion he had with the State Rural Development Minister, C.F. Thomas, the Local Self-Government Minister, Cherkalam Abdulla, the Irrigation Minister, T.M. Jacob, and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister, G. Karthikeyan, here on Thursday.
Out of the State's total allocation of Rs. 227 crores for 2001-02, only Rs. 102 crores had been availed so far. The State was yet to pick up the remaining Rs. 125 crores. In the course of the discussions, it was also found that the State now had an unspent balance of Rs. 106.32 crores after taking into account the opening balance of Rs. 67.25 crores as on April 1, 2001.
On the basis of documents furnished by the different departments and the assurances given by the State Ministers, it should now be possible to release Rs. 155 crores to the State. This amount should be availed of before February 28 and utilised before March 31. From the coming year onwards, no State would be allowed to carry forward the unspent part of the Central assistance, he said.
Giving the break-up of allocations and the extension of various schemes in the State, he said Kerala would get Rs. 24 crores for the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Rs. 8 crores for the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana (PMGAY), Rs. 32 crores for the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Scheme (ARWSS), Rs. 17 crores for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Rs. 34 crores for the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) coupled with Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), Rs. 3.08 crores for the Swaranjayanti Gram Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) and Rs. 0.39 crores for the National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS).
Mr. Naidu expressed happiness over the implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign by the State in two districts (Kollam and Kasaragod) and said the Centre was clearing proposals for similar campaigns in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Malappuram and Wayanad. He said the Sector Reforms Project in the irrigation sector in Kollam and Alappuzha had to make further progress. The teething troubles were understandable given the fact that this was a new concept aimed at people's participation in the ownership and management of water supply facilities and people should be taught about it, he said.
The Union Minister said the NIRMAL-2000 would be extended and Rs. 97.88 lakhs was being released to the State for the purpose. He also expressed happiness about the performance of the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) and said his Ministry was releasing a one-time grant of Rs. 75 lakhs to KILA for imparting training to representatives of Panchayati Raj institutions.
He said `good progress' had been made in computerisation of land records. The Ministry of Rural Development would meet 50 per cent of the cost if the State went in for information kiosks at the taluk level with touch-screen facility for the people to get information about their property. Such kiosks could be set up with assistance from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds.
The Minister said the State had not lifted 50 per cent of the rice sanctioned under the EAS and SGRY. The State Ministers had explained that the rice could not be lifted as it was of poor quality and that they had taken it up with the Union Civil Supplies Minister, Shanta Kumar. He would also take it up with the Union Minister, Mr. Naidu added.
The Minister expressed satisfaction about the State's success in getting rural road development work sanctioned under the PMGSY during 2001-02 for Rs. 16.98 crores against an allocation of Rs. 19.71 crores. Taking this and the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony's request into account, the Centre has decided to sanction Rs. 44.65 crores to Kerala. The new schemes would create road connectivity for a length of 342.03 km covering 198 new villages and upgradation of roads in 32 habitations with a total road length of 37.90 km.
He said the Centre has decided to reduce the width of rural roads under the Centrally-sponsored scheme in Kerala from the stipulated 7.5 metres. This concession would be available only to Kerala and was being granted on a specific request from the State Government. Contractors who execute such projects would have to guarantee that the road would remain in shape for five years, he said.
Mr. Naidu said the Central Government would not discriminate against any State on the basis of politics. States that perform well stand to gain and there would be no discrimination between BJP-ruled and non-BJP Governments, he said.
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