The state Panchayat department on Monday directed the BDOs (Block Development Officers) to finalise tenders for rural projects by July 31 in order to utilise 75 per cent unspent funds allotted under the 15th Finance Commission. Sources in the department said there were apprehensions that the Central government might stop the next installment of the funds scheduled for next month if the allotted money is not disbursed within the next 15 days. The directions were given during a review meeting held in Kolkata on Monday attended by district nodal officers and BDOs. At the meeting, the department reviewed the spending of funds allotted to the state government by the Centre in the current financial year. Besides, the unused money must be used by August 15, the BDOs were told that at least 75 percent of the money must be spent. Out of Rs 3,315.26 crore allotted to the state Panchayat Department in the first quarter of this financial year, only Rs 1018.29 crore has been spent for developmental work, which amounts to 30.72 per cent,” said a senior official of Panchayat Department. According to the Panchayat Department, out of 3,339 gram panchayats, 1,308 failed to spend more than 25 per cent of the total funds. As per the district-wise spending, Bankura, Dakshin Dinajpur, Jhargram, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Purba Medinipur, Purulia, Malda, North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Kalimpong, and Darjeeling spent less than 30 per cent of the funds. “Zilla Parishads get a certain amount of money every year as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission. All these works are done through panchayat samitis and gram panchayats under the Zilla Parishad. These funds are spent to build rural roads, tubewell or any other develolpmental works,” said an official. “Some problem areas were also identified at the meeting. They were poor understanding about tendering that needed special training, poor scheme selection, poor knowledge of e-Gram swaraj portal that needed another round of training, and PMFS (Public Financial Management System), GPMS (Gram Panchayat Management System), portal-related issues. The BDOs were instructed to resolve these issues immediately,” the senior official said. “We can’t blame all the BDOs for poor work performance because in the last few months, BDOs were busy in Lok Sabha election preparation works. That had a major impact on planning and implementing rural projects. After the Lok Sabha elections, bypolls were held in the state. So, now we have no time to waste. We should work on a war footing to achieve the target,” the official added.
