The leaders of Congress party and it allies in the UPA government at the centre leave no opportunity to criticise the BJP government in Rajasthan for its ?poor? performance in implementation of various central schemes, including the much-talked about National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). But when it comes to reality, its ministers and officials have no option but to praise the state government for its excellent implementation.
In a two-day meeting of Performance Review Committee (PRC) of the Union Rural Development Ministry, held in the third week of September at Jaipur Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who represent the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) in the ministry, virtually showered praised on the efforts made by the Rajasthan government in implementation of various schemes of his ministry.
In this meeting progress in implementation of NREGS, SGRY (Sampoorna Grameen Rojagar Yojna), PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana) and IAY (Indira Awas Yojana) along with another five such schemes in 11 states was discussed.
As per the details provided in the meeting Rajasthan has topped the list of all the states in implementation of NREGS, SGRY and PMGSY and far ahead of many other states in implementation of other schemes
Talking to the Organiser, Dr. Prasad said that other states should follow the example of Rajasthan, where these schemes are being implemented with all sincerity and transparency. In implementation of NREGS, Rajas-than, where initially six districts were selected, spent about Rs 100 crore in each districts, whereas Bihar, where 23 districts were covered under the scheme, had so far spent only about Rs 400 crore.
He admitted that they may be criticising the BJP government politically but when it comes to hard reality, it deserves only praise and not criticism. Since all such central schemes are being implemented by the state government, it has to expedite its efforts to utilise the funds meant for these schemes. Other states should send their officials here to learn some thing, he added.
Rajasthan is the first state, which had given jobs to all those who were eligible for it under NREGS. According to the review, in all 11.75 lakh candidates in the state applied for jobs under the scheme and without exception all of them were provided with jobs. A total of Rs 856.17 crore were provided to Rajasthan last year, out of which Rs 693.06 crore were utilised. This was the highest amount utilised by any state government in each of the selected district under the scheme.
Under the PMGSY, Rajasthan was entitled to get Rs. 1108 crore from a period between 2000 and 2007. The progress in implementation of the scheme, during the Congress regime, was sluggish. But with the coming of BJP government it stepped up the road construction programme. The state government, during the past three and half year had sanctioned roads worth Rs 4502 crore, out of which it has already spent Rs 3438 crore. This was again the highest amount, in terms of percentage, utilised by any state government. Since, some self-styled NGOs were envy of state government'sperformance in implementation of rural development schemes, they sent some complaints to the Union Rural Development Ministry. These complaints were mostly related to the Vanvasi-dominated districts of Dungarpur, Banswara, Chittoragarh and Udaipur.
Dr. Prasad took off the time from the meeting to visit some of these areas to find out the ground realities. The state government had given him a free hand to visit any of the areas of his choice. Dr. Prasad, on the basis of these complaints, selected some villages in Dungarpur. But after visiting these areas, he found that there was hardly any flaw in implementation of various schemes and appreciated the local officials for their efforts to ensure that targeted groups are benefited from these schemes.
