Minster for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj,Ali Mohammad Sagar has asked the officers to ensure transparency, accountability in the implementation of various schemes of the Rural Development department. The Minster was addressing the first meeting of the State Vigilance and Monitoring Committee of Rural Development Department to take stock of the vigilance and monitoring aspects of the various programmes implemented by the Rural Development Department. It was attended by Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. B.B.Vyas, Commissioner Secretary Rural Development, Mr. Farooq Peer, Administrative Secretaries, various Heads of the Department and public representatives. Mr. Sagar said that the officers should also work in close co-ordination to ensure that the time bound implementation of various schemes is ensured and added that special stress should be laid on proper and correct identification of beneficiaries, so that the benefits percolate down to the most deserving in the society. He also impressed upon the Administrative Secretaries that their role in the implementation of the programmes in the shape of sanction of State share, clearance of proposals etc. should be expedited so as to enable the department to fulfil its responsibilities towards the people of the State.
The Minister while reviewing the monitoring mechanism suggested that the Social Audit aspect of the programmes should be further strengthened. He also observed that the monitoring and vigilance can be further strengthened if the institution of Ombudsman in the Panchayats as per MGNREGA Act is put in place so that there is a third party monitoring and vigilance of the Rural Development programmes.The Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and Principal Secretary Finance suggested that the department should issue a clear guideline for monitoring and vigilance of the programmes of Rural Development which should be based on the guidelines prescribed by Government of India and State specific guidelines to be prepared by the Rural Development Department. He also suggested that it should be the endeavour of the department to separate planning, execution and monitoring so as to bring in accountability and transparency in the implementation of the programmes.Earlier, the Commissioner/Secretary Rural Development Department presented a brief of the various schemes and also highlighted the achievements of the department in terms of placing various structures in place for implementation of programmes like MGNREGA, IAY, IWMP, NBA and NRLM.