The Hindu : DRDAs may go after amendment to law

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Saturday, Jun 22, 2002

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DRDAs may go after amendment to law

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 21. The District Rural Development Agencies which disburse Central funds to panchayat raj institutions are likely to be disbanded after a constitutional amendment. This was stated by the Rural Development Minister, Venkaiah Naidu.

Mr. Naidu said a conference of DRDA project directors would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in Hyderabad on July 5 and 6. The Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, would deliver the valedictory address at the conference which would review progress of various rural development schemes, including rural roads, drinking water and sanitation. The Minister said the conference would provide the Centre a forum for getting feedback from the DRDA project directors and the chief executive officers of zilla parishads on implementation of various schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development.

For instance, though the Centre had provided Rs.1,940 crores for Sector Reforms Project for 64 districts in Drinking Water, the utilisation had been not so good. The scheme required 90 per cent funding from the Centre and only 10 per cent money or labour component from the beneficiary Village Committee. Yet the implementation had been tardy. "If this continues, we will withdraw the scheme from villages which do not utilise funds and give it on pilot basis to others,'' the Minister said. Likewise, the progress in the implementation of the Total Sanitation Programme would be reviewed at the conference.

The conference is also expected to facilitate collection and compilation of information on "best practices'' in the districts.

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