The suspension of seven Block Development Officers (BDOs) by District Development Commissioner Doda for their poor performance noticed by him after reviewing the progress of physical and financial achievements of District Capex and Area Development Plan is a pointer to the fact that non utlisation of funds may once trigger complaints about non utilisation of funds for the second straight year in a row in Jammu & Kashmir. Since the action of District Development Commissioner Doda in view of the progress of District Capex and Area Development Plans against seven BDOs shows that funds are not being utilised for the completion of developmental works in time by the Rural Development Department, it is imperative for the District Development Commissioners of other districts also to review the performance of District Capex and Area Development plans in their concerned districts and initiate action against those responsible for such lapses having a direct bearing on the completion of developmental works executed by the Rural Development Department in both Kashmir Valley and Jammu . It would be much better if the Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu divisions call high level meetings of the Deputy Commissioners and provincial heads of the Rural Development Department to review the progress of the District Capex and Area Development Plans in all the districts of the twin divisions of Kashmir Valley and Jammu Division. Just withholding the salaries of the BDOs responsible for such lapses or attaching them is not sufficient enough for improving the progress of District Capex and Area Development Plans but expediting the works executed under district capex and area development plans by the rural development department is a much bigger issue which deserves the attention and intervention of not only the Divisional Commissioners of both Kashmir Valley and Jammu division but also of the Directors of Rural Development of both Kashmir Valley and Jammu division.
Any flexibility on reviewing the district capex and area development plans by the District Development Commissioners won’t only attract public criticism but it would also bring into disrepute the performance of the three tier Panchayat Raj System introduced for the first time after seventy years of long wait in Jammu & Kashmir.
It is in place to mention here that elected representatives of several district development councils of several district of both Kashmir Valley and Jammu division came in for a sharp criticism from several quarters last year for allowing the funds meant for execution of developmental works to lapse, it is the right time for the members of both district development and as well as block development councils to review the execution of such development works which have been cleared for execution by the competent authorities. Any flexibility on reviewing the district capex and area development plans by the District Development Commissioners won’t only attract public criticism but it would also bring into disrepute the performance of the three tier Panchayat Raj System introduced for the first time after seventy years of long wait in Jammu & Kashmir.
