The planning process of local self-government institutions is set to be fast-tracked and the preparation of grassroot-level plans under the tutelage of District Planning Committees (DPC) are bound to be back on track soon.
The persuasion and to a great extent coercion of the government and the Planning Board seem to have yielded results and set a record of sorts. For the first time in the past two decades, all local bodies together furnished 2.5 lakh projects worth ₹15,500 crore for clearance in June itself. With the DPCs approving the projects, the local bodies have a full year ahead for implementing the approved projects.
This is being deemed as a precursor to a course of action laid down for equipping local bodies to expedite project preparation, so that it could be presented simultaneously with the State budget from the next financial year.
The district planning process that had withered off during the past five years for want of political patronage and due to the drastic changes in the mode of planning, mainly deactivation of the DPCs, would be revived with the active involvement of the stakeholders, mainly the local bodies and experts in each region.
“The district plans to be formulated under the tutelage of the DPCs will reflect local aspirations and needs. The committees will thus become the secretariat of the planning process,” says Planning Board member K.N. Harilal.
The first strategic move to clear projects in June is expected to galvanise project implementation and overcome the bunching of expenditure that was seen as a bane of planning for the past two decades. The system of ritualistically spending the sanctioned funds by depositing funds in the name of projects in government agencies are expected to become a thing of the past with the latest move.
Successive State Finance Commissions, especially the fourth commission headed by M.A. Oommen, had warned against bunching of expenditure and made recommendations for streamlining the planning process. The process is set to begin now.
But once the local bodies expend funds evenly, the Finance Department too will have to be duly prepared to meet the commitments from time to time. Governing committees of local bodies will be forced to become more agile and tone up their functioning to meet the new challenges for timely completion of projects and efficient utilisation of funds. This beginning was set to be a game changer in the planning at the ground level, sources said.
