The first meeting of the reconstituted district-level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee on State and Centrally sponsored rural development schemes in the district was held here on Saturday.
Committee chairman A. Sampath, MP, presided. MLAs Jameela Prakasham, A.T. George and V. Sasi, District Collector M. Nandakumar, Rural Development Department project director Chandrashekharan Nair, block and grama panchayat presidents, and officials of the Rural Development Department participated in the meeting.
The implementation of various State and Centrally funded projects, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), and Indira Awaas Yojana were reviewed at the meeting.
The meeting adopted a resolution requesting the Union government to increase the unit cost for houses constructed under the Indira Awaas Yojana.
Joint Development Commissioner Ashok Kumar presented the performance report card for the MGNREGS for the year 2011-12. He said that as on October 19, Thiruvananthapuram district was in the first position in the State in many project implementation indicators in the current fiscal.
The district came first in issuing maximum number of job cards, providing work to maximum number of households, and maximum number of households that completed 100 work days. It was second in wage disbursement. Six grama panchayats in the district had crossed fund disbursement of Rs.1 crore under the project this year.
Against a target of Rs.3,883.2 lakh to be disbursed by October 30, the district had disbursed Rs.3,796.86 lakh. The total project outlay for 2011-12 was Rs.5,943.32 lakh.
Mr. Ashok Kumar said the State government had decided in principle to increase the material component of works undertaken under the MGNREGS. A government order in this regard was expected to be issued soon.
Panchayat presidents from Amboori, Kilimanoor, Maranelloor, Mangalapuram, Anaad, and Nedumangad cited cases of lapses in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
The meeting decided to conduct a one-day workshop on Centrally sponsored schemes for people's representatives and government officials.
