Delhi Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday invited various officials from across the city under one roof at Delhi Secretariat to approve files related to the Village Development Board. It is one of its kind initiative to speed up the work.

“last year, the budget for Village Development Board was Rs 600 crore. Not even a single paisa was used for work till March and the money lapsed,” said Rai.

He said the Government is trying to make the villages smart, but the “officers were not clearing the files”.

“I asked officials from 35 constituencies to be in the Delhi Secretariat for whole day with all their printers and laptops. Till now, the DMs have cleared 160 files, while the flood and irrigation department has cleared 135 files,” Rai said.

The remaining 35 constituencies will be in the Secretariat on Friday, he added.

The board in its various meetings had approved 1,069 projects which were pending as the officials had not sanctioned the files.

“Not even a single file was passed in past one and a half year. Now, I am also sitting with the officials to ensure that the files are passed and no excuses can be made.

“A number of works related to roads, sports complex, park development, open gyms among others were pending for so long. The people of Delhi living in villages were not able to get the services the Government wanted to provide them,” he said.

He said that in next six months, the work will begin on ground.

The ground floor of the Secretariat, which usually remains calm and silent, saw hundreds of officials, including those from DM office, flood and irrigation department, MCDs, and MlAs, working together to get the projects cleared.