Andhra Pradesh

DPC to prepare vision document for 11th Plan

Kakinada: The second District Planning Committee (DPC) meeting held here on Sunday constituted six sub-committees on Conservation of Natural Resources, Infrastructure and Slum Development, Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Social Welfare, Human Resources Development and Solid Waste Management. These sub-committees are vested with the responsibility of drafting plans at village and mandal levels and endorsing them for inclusion in the district plan which will be ultimately integrated into the State plan.

Addressing the meeting, Zilla Parishad chairman Ch. Venugopala Krishna said that the DPC was mandated to prepare annual plans for the next five years (2008-12) on the basis of recommendations of the sub-committees and a separate experts committee which would be chaired by the district Collector.

The State Government would provide Backward Regions Grant Fund to be spent by the DPC as per the guidelines of the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development and Municipal Administration and Urban Development Departments.

The DPC would be preparing a vision document for the 11th Plan in tune with the Millennium Development Goals and Bharat Nirman project.

Soon after the constitution of the sub-committees, a verbal duel ensued between the Minister for Small Industries Gollapalli Surya Rao and MLC N. Chinna Rajappa (TDP) when the latter alleged that several villages were not getting drinking water, hinting at the involvement of Congress activists in the awarding of transport contracts.

The Minister replied that the MLC was making baseless charges to derive political mileage and sought to know specific cases of corruption. He claimed that the Congress party activists had toured the villages that figured in the MLC’s earlier complaints and found nothing wrong. But, the MLC reiterated his allegation without being able to substantiate his charges.

At this juncture, the MLC shouted that the Minister was talking like a Congress party worker and said that he was prepared to resign if his charges were proved to be frivolous.

Minister Surya Rao then told the MLC to ‘clean his tongue with his resignation letter’, suggesting that the MLC’s intention was to create nuisance and he was not interested in raising genuine people’s problems.

As the tempers frayed, Collector Gopalakrishna Dwivedi intervened and promised that the matter raised by the MLC would be inquired while claiming that there were no serious allegations as of now from the villages.

Social Welfare Minister P. Subhas Chandra Bose said the DPC should strive to become a role model for others by drafting plans which would help achieve real growth and remove socio-economic disparities.

Later, Rajahmundry MP V. Arun Kumar observed that several development works were being carried out in the district as per the orders of local politicians who seemed to be not worried about the payments to be made to the contractors.

The respective people’s representatives might be enthusiastic to get things done fast but their attitude should not set a bad precedent to others as what they were doing was against the rules. Therefore, the Collector should inquire and take corrective measures.

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