Bhubaneswar: In a bid to ensure proper utilisation of funds collected under District Mineral Foundation (DMF), the state government has decided to prepare a five-year action plan.
Chairing a high-level meeting to review the progress made on projects undertaken under DMF here Tuesday, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy directed the secretaries of departments concerned to prepare a five-year perspective action plan indicating the projects under DMF and advise the trusts (formed to regulate DMF) to prioritise the works as per their local needs.
Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, who was also present at the meeting, advised the officials to identify the critical gaps in ongoing programmes and reflect those in the action plan.
Further, Tripathy directed the departments of Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water, Rural Development, Water Resources and Works to deploy more technical manpower at the ground level through outsourcing for expeditious implementation of the projects. Majority of the projects sanctioned under DMF are within the purview of these departments.
The Chief Secretary wanted to enhance the financial sanctioning power of the Superintending Engineers from Rs 4 crore to Rs 10 crore for quick sanction of the projects.
It was decided that the progress of the projects at ground level would be regularly reviewed with the collectors every month through videoconferencing.
Further, the secretaries of the departments having DMF projects were instructed to take a meeting of the district level officers of their respective departments and orient them towards timely completion of the projects.
“The district level officers including the departmental officers should have a clear-cut vision of the projects,” Tripathy told the secretaries. They were also advised to keep tabs on the projects for avoiding any possible duplication of allocations and maximise their outcomes.
A total of 12,649 projects estimated around Rs 8,074 crore have been taken up under DMF in various districts by the end of July 2019. The utilisation is nearly Rs 1900 crore. It means the government has able to spend only 23.5 per cent under DMF.
District-wise review of the programmes showed that Angul, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Sundargarh are the top-five districts in the matter of DMF collection and allocation.
Out of total 12, 649 projects, these five districts have 11,126 projects. Angul district has 2918 projects at an estimated cost of around Rs 1097 crore; Jajpur 2691 worth Rs 1125 crore; Jharsuguda 638 worth Rs 1125 crore; Keonjhar 854 projects costing around Rs 2025 crore.
Planning and Convergence Joint Secretary PK Mahakud said as of now around Rs 7,600 crore has been collected by various districts under DMF. Out of this, around Rs 8,074 crore has been allocated against different projects by the respective district trusts.
The base works of the projects like survey, foundation, ground work etc have been completed with utilisation of around Rs 1,900 crore, he added.