Chief Secretary Anthony DeSa undertook review of works being done under Bundelkhand Special Package in six districts of the State here on Monday. These include Water Resources, Agriculture, Panchayats and Rural Development, Horticulture, Forests, Public Health Engineering, Animal Husbandry, fisheries, Skill Development departments etc.
Almost entire funds under the package have been released to the State. Most of the funds for financial year 2013-14 have also been released. The Chief Secretary has directed to utilise these funds fully. The meeting informed that of the central assistance worth Rs 1,953.20 crore, the Centre released Rs 1942.36 crore to Madhya Pradesh. Of this, Rs 1704.14 crore or 87.74 per cent has been spent.
Additional Chief Secretary Planning, Economics and Statistics and Member Secretary of State Planning Commission Ajita Vajpayee Pandey and concerning officers were present on the occasion.
The Chief Secretary undertook department-wise review of additional Central assistance and works done under Central sector and Centrally-sponsored schemes. DeSa stressed the need for accelerating pace of works in agriculture sector. Apart from storage, proper arrangements have also been made to maintain quality of warehouses constructed by Agriculture Department. These warehouses were inspected by Secretary of Union Planning Commission in February.
Under Bundelkhand Special Package, special attention has been paid to increase irrigation facilities and lifting groundwater level through medium and minor irrigation projects. As a result, production by farmers is increasing and their income being improved. Works are underway continuously in watershed area management, tubewell re-charging and other infrastructure development works in agriculture and horticulture sectors. Apart from dense afforestation, animal husbandry activities are also being accelerated. Five-fold increase has been registered in milk production. Convergence is yielding better results. Works are being reviewed regularly.
As per department-wise achievements under Bundelkhand Package, Forest Department has spent 100 percent funds followed by PHE Department 95.53 per cent, Animal Husbandry Department 94.51 percent and Water Resources Department 90.62 percent. Similarly Rs 102 crore against allocation of Rs 100 crore has been spent by Horticulture Department in the first phase of Central sector and Centrally-sponsored schemes. It was also informed during review that better works have been done in Madhya Pradesh under Bundelkhand Package than the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
Heads of the departments present at the meeting gave detailed information about works. The Chief Secretary directed to accelerate pace of work so that they can be completed by June 30. It is noteworthy that Madhya Pradesh government is undertaking constant review of Bundelkhand Special Package before holding of a meeting of empowered committee constituted by Secretary Union Planning Commission in New Delhi.