Minister of Rural Development Women and Child Welfare Pankaja Munde at Patrakar Bhavan for Press meet on Friday. (Express Photo By Pavan Khengre)
MAHARASHTRA Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde said on Friday that the state government would not spend funds on schemes that are now the responsibility of local bodies such as Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti.
Zilla parishad office bearers, especially those in Marathwada and Vidarbha, have said that implementation of schemes that have been transferred from the state government is hampered due to a shortage of funds.
Munde was in Pune to inaugurate a day-long ‘Vikas Parishad’ where Zilla Parishad President, speakers and CEOs from across the state participated. Munde said that the conference was organised to discuss various state government schemes for rural areas and to gather feedback from the participants.
She said that decentralisation of the government schemes was a national policy according to which the state government has taken the initiative and transferred several key schemes to Zilla Parishads for implementation. Responding to a question about anganwadis, now to be run by zilla parishads, which are failing to get funds for operation and renovation, Munde said that this was the responsibility of the parishads.
“The zilla parishads have to make the expenditure on the schemes that have been transferred to them from the state government. They have enough earnings and they can do it. Also, they are getting funds from the state government, which can be spent on these schemes,” she said.
Calling Mukhyamantri Gramin Sadak Yojana a flagship scheme of the state government, Munde said that work on the scheme was progressing fast. “Work on construction of 7,000 km of road in rural areas has commenced and 3,000 km of road is ready. The scheme is an ambitious one and it’s getting a great response from the local representatives,” said Munde.
She conceded that there was a severe issue of vacancy in the Women and Child Development Department as well as the Rural Health Department. “A high degree of vacancy is a big issue and the procedure of filling the posts is a little complicated. However, we have sped up the process and soon, all the vacant positions will be filled,” she said.
