Govt publishes B2V works; asks public to give feedback

Srinagar: In a first, government of J&K published its work done under ‘Back to Village (B2V)’ programme. All the 1930 projects finished during the financial year 2019-20 have been showcased in an e-book recently released by the Finance department.
The same has been done to bring in transparency and accountability in the expenditure-making by the government departments. The e-book, depicting the pictorial images and other details of all the B2V works completed in previous year has been released to fetch the necessary feedback from the general public.
The Finance department has also designated an officer to receive the complaints/feedback from the people. Anybody having any grievance regarding the works done under ‘Back to Village’ programme could be sent to Ajay Kumar Sharma, Director Expenditure Division-I at [email protected].
The government is keen to draw feedback from the public so that they have a say in the development process going in their areas. In this direction all the Deputy Commissioners have also been directed by the Finance department to publish the relevant portions of this book on their respective websites so that more people have access to it.
About Rs. 3 to 5 crore were released to districts to enable them to meet urgent public demands raised during the B2V programme. It is in this direction that during first year of its launch, 1930 projects were completed which are depicted pictorially in the released e-Book.
The book further reveals that 4621 Panchayats consisting of 5517 villages were covered under the programme. 4,189 officers visited the panchayats in 2 weeks with each officer spending minimum one night in the panchayat. 26000 PRIs and 15,62,155 people have participated in the Programme, as mentioned in the e-book.
The book further informs that a total of 4100 works have been identified, out of which 1930 works stand completed with Rs. 4900.98 lacs expenditure. It includes laying of 34.55 Kms of road length, laying of pipe length of 263.53 Kms, construction/improvement of 118 Play fields besides benefitting 4,27,326 souls under Power Sector by way of providing poles, conductors and repairing transformers etc. Other works significant for the upliftment of these villages have also been completed under this programme.
The core objectives of B2V programme, as mentioned in the e-book was to energize Panchayati Raj Institutions towards efficient delivery of mechanisms related to various government schemes. It also helped in collecting feedback from public on government welfare schemes/developmental programmes. The visiting officers carried out first hand assessment of functioning of local Schools, Primary Health Centers, Anganwadi Centres, and other rural welfare offices and schemes.
Pertinent to mention here that in the summer of 2019 the government started an initiative “Back to Village (B2V)”, a public outreach programme to bridge the gap between administration and common masses. Lauding the programme even Prime Minister mentioned it in the Mann- Ki- Baat as a festival of development, public participation and public awareness.