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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Panel proposes to dissolve DoNER -Nishit Dholabhai

Panel proposes to dissolve DoNER -Nishit Dholabhai

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published Published on Apr 28, 2013   modified Modified on Apr 28, 2013
-The Telegraph


A parliamentary panel has recommended that the Union government dissolve the ministry of development of north eastern region (DoNER) and put it under the Prime Minister's Office.

The reason for the ministry's dissolution has been attributed to the plummeting efficiency levels and achievement rate in its planned schemes.

"The committee, therefore, strongly recommends that the government should consider the handicaps of the DoNER ministry in a very serious manner. It should devise a way out either by placing the ministry under the PMO directly or evolve some other mechanism so that planned projects could get implemented from the line ministries/departments/agencies," the report of the standing committee on home affairs, submitted in the Rajya Sabha this week, said.

The committee says in its report that the purpose for which the ministry was set up has not been fulfilled and it seems that implementing ministries do not pay heed to requests or suggestions from DoNER ministry.

DoNER minister Paban Singh Ghatowar appeared shocked by the observations. He said he had not read the report but could not fathom how the ministry could be brought under the PMO. "The PMO can supervise but DoNER is an independent ministry so how can they (panel) say it should be brought under the PMO?"he asked.

The ministry was set up as a department in September 2001 and upgraded to a ministry in May 2004. In 2008, the Administrative Reforms Commission under Veerappa Moily had also recommended its dissolution for similar reasons.

In its 170th report on demand for grants for the current fiscal (2013-14), the panel expressed disappointment over the "dismal" achievement rate in capacity building and technical assistance, national rural livelihoods project and the North Eastern states roads project.

On the non-lapsable central pool of resources, the panel said the ministry had offered the "same set of excuses" like last year - delay in tendering process, transfer of funds to implementing agencies, delay in utilisation of funds and submission of documents by the state governments.

Speaking about the perceived failures of the ministry, Ghatowar said the building of roads was the job of the ministry of road transport and highways and there were many problems in the Northeast because of which the project had suffered.

The panel argued that such limitations should be faced through customised technological solutions. Administrative problems like forest clearances and land acquisition could be resolved through "better coordination and persuasion at the highest level," it suggested.

Ghatowar said projects worth several thousands of crores were overseen by the PMO directly. "The trans-Arunachal highway project worth more than Rs 16,000 crore, the over Rs 2,000-crore Bogibeel project and the Rs 8000-odd crore gas cracker project are directly dealt by the PMO," he said.

The panel also requested finance minister P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to pay heed to the needs of the Northeast.

The concern stems from the fact that against a demand of Rs 3,614.91 crore this year, only Rs 2,006 crore has been approved.

The committee wondered how the DoNER ministry would meet the shortfall. Similarly, the panel observed the commission has approved less than half of the projected demand of the North Eastern Council (NEC).

"The finance ministry and the Planning Commission should also understand the problem and pave the way for providing sufficient funds," the report said. The DoNER ministry should persuade to include additional funds at the revised estimate level, it added.

The minister might have found a party to his grievances in panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, a former DoNER minister.

Aiyar said instead of bringing "low-profile" ministries under the PMO, their profile should be upgraded. However, he also said the ministry has done better under ministers who were not from the region. "Whether it was Arun Shourie, C.P. Thakur or me," he said, adding that ministers from the region were under pressure from their own states.

Aiyar said that instead of the implementing ministries deciding on where the 10 per cent mandatory outlay from their budget should be spent, the amounts should be added up and given to the DoNER ministry. "The North Eastern Council is a planning body for the region under a statute and the Planning Commission is in complete violation of the statute," he said.

Aiyar also said that top bureaucrats from the region should be deputed to the council and their plans forwarded to the Planning Commission for approval. "Concerned ministries and not the finance ministry should decided on where to spend funds," he said.


The Telegraph, 28 April, 2013, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130428/jsp/frontpage/story_16836520.jsp#.UXz6AUrcing


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