Monday, May 19, 2003
Monday, May 19, 2003 |
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Tamil Nadu
By T. Ramakrishnan
The Central assistance of about Rs. 30 crores for this scheme lay unutilised with the Tamil Nadu Adi-Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (THADCO) at the end of March 2002. Another programme, Sanitary Mart Scheme, too met more or less with a similar fate. Against a target of 1,000 marts to be set up for rehabilitating 25,000 persons, only 158 were established benefiting about 3,100. This was despite the Centre sanctioning about Rs. 40 crores and the execution of this scheme for two years (2000-2002), according to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report placed in the just-concluded Budget session of the Assembly. The report added that the matter was brought to the notice of the Government in July 2002 but there was no response till December 2002. The CAG assessment was based on a test-check of the implementation of the schemes during November 2001-April 2002 in the offices of the Regional Directors of Municipal Administration, the Assistant Directors of Town Panchayats and the District Managers of THADCO in the districts of Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Madurai, Thanjavur and Vellore, besides 63 municipalities and 75 town panchayats. Also, the working of the departments of Municipal Administration and Water Supply, and Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare was covered under the review, which generally studied the execution of the NSLRS during 1997-2002. Tracing the genesis of the NSLRS, the CAG report stated that the Centre launched it in March 1992 as the implementation of an earlier scheme, `liberation of scavengers', was very slow. The State Government completed the enumeration work in 1992-93 and identified 35,561 persons belonging to 16,937 families. Citing the THADCO reports, the CAG said that as on March 2002, 23,114 persons were rehabilitated and the shortfall was mainly due to refusal of banks to provide loans to the beneficiaries. The test-check revealed that nearly 60 per cent of around 40,000 applications, forwarded by the THADCO to various banks during 1998-2002, were rejected on the grounds of non-viability of projects proposed, applicants not living in the service area of the banks, prospective beneficiaries not having experience in trade, non-fixing of targets by the banks for provision of loans and ineligibility of applicants. The inability of the targeted group to offer collateral security was also attributed as another reason. As a result, Rs. 32.72 crores out of Rs. 57.8 crores had remained unutilised. The CAG report stated that despite the Centre's advice, the State Government had not conducted any study to identify the scavengers in urban and semi-urban areas. The exact number was, therefore, not ascertained. On the one hand, 12,447 persons identified during 1992 were yet to be rehabilitated. On the other, the Government concluded that there were no dry latrines in the State, and hence, all scavengers had been rehabilitated.
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