Sunday, Feb 08, 2004
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004 |
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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Karnataka
By Our Special Correspondent
HUBLI, FEB. 7. One of his main tasks in his new assignment as the State's Representative in New Delhi is to ensure that the State Government is able to get all the money allocated to it under different schemes sponsored by the Centre, B.S. Patil, who has been appointed to the post immediately after his retirement as Chief Secretary, has said. In a brief chat with presspersons here today, Mr. Patil said that at the moment, the State was getting between Rs. 1,100 crore to Rs. 1,200 crore under different Centrally sponsored schemes. The utilisation of the money was around 96 per cent. His endeavour would be too see whether the State was able to get more than the allocated amount as a result of the re-appropriation made at the end of the financial year of the amount that remained unutilised. Asked what more he could do, which had not been done by his predecessors, Mr. Patil said he would not like to comment on what had or had not been done by those who had held the post earlier. "But I have my own style and method of working," he said. He refuted suggestion that the State had been found wanting in utilising the funds sanctioned for rural development. The State had done exceedingly well in implementing all the schemes, including drinking water supply, the minimum needs programme, and the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGRY), he said. On the drought relief assistance from the Centre, Mr. Patil said that while some States were able to get assistance based on "political clout", Karnataka had to go through all the formalities for getting assistance. The State Government received only 1.65 lakh tonnes of foodgrains while it had made a request for the supply of 15 lakh tonnes. As of now, the State needed a minimum assistance of another 1.65 lakh tonnes of foodgrains, he said. In the irrigation sector, the only problem facing the State was to get assistance under the Accelerated Irrigation Development Programme. There was no difficulty about the sanctions, he said.
Development Board
Mr. Patil said he was very much in favour of a single development board for north Karnataka replacing the existing regional boards, including the Hyderabad Karnataka Development Board. Replying to questions on the propriety of the move, Mr. Patil said that it was being made to enable resources to be raised apart from the budgetary provisions for taking up development works. The existing boards were being run exclusively on budgetary support and were not in a position to raise additional resources. Chiranjivi Singh, Development Commissioner for north Karnataka, who will head the new board, said a single board had been formed to bring a regional focus on development instead of a sub-regional approach. Mr. Patil denied that the report of the High-power Committee on the Removal of Regional Imbalances, headed by D.M. Nanjundappa, had been given a quiet burial. Asked about the implementation of the main recommendation of the committee for providing an additional investment of Rs. 15,000 crore over seven years to bridge the gap in development, Mr. Patil said the State Government did not have the resources to invest such a large sum. It was trying to find ways of raising the resources for the purpose.
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