Chief Minister Raman Singh admitted in the State Assembly on Monday that lackadaisical attitude of certain implementing agencies had delayed the electrification of many villages in the restive Baster region.
Replying to a question posed by Congress legislator lakheshwar Baghel during the question hour, the Chief Minister said that tenders would be floated from a new end by withdrawing work from non performing agencies. He said that a proposal for electrification of ‘Majra Tolas’ with population of less than 100 people would be sent to the Centre for approval.
The Chief Minister stated that the State Government had received Rs 115 crore from the Centre for electrifying the non electrified villages. “Out of the Rs 115 crore, electrification work had been completed for a total of 96 villages,” he added. He said that the work in the rest of 29 villages had been underway for a year now and yet not completed. “The work of the electrification of the villages had been undertaken through the rural electrification corporation.”
“The pace at which the work must take place is not taking place. It is out effort to complete all pending work,” he said. On a supplementary question by leader of Opposition TS Singh Deo, the Chief Minister stated that there were some shortcomings found in the detailed project report and many ‘Majra Tolas’ were left out.
To another question by Congress member Dhanendra Sahu, the Chief Minister replied that 90 per cent of the funds had been received from the Centre for the rural electrification project and 10 per are born be the State Government’s share in the implementation of the project Singh said that three-four different types of action were taken on agencies which failed to complete the work on the assigned dates. “The deposit of the concerned agency is forfeited. The damage is recovered from the concerned contractors while blacklisting them,” he added.