EFFECTIVE MONITORING OF PROJECTS YIELDS RESULTS

REVAMPING OF 20-POINT PROGRAMME INITIATED

MAIDEN EFFORTS FOR SMOOTHER UTILISATION OF MPLADS FUNDS

SURVEYS ON UNORGANIZED MANUFACTURING SECTOR, DISABILITY, HOUSING CONDITION, VILLAGE FACILITIES

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YEAR END REVIEW 2002

Effective Monitoring Of Projects Yields Results

The effective monitoring has resulted in lowering of cost overrun in the Central Sector projects of various ministries costing Rs. 20 crore and above, from 62% in March 1991 to 23.7% in September 2002. The number of projects on schedule has also been increasing consistently from 124 in 2001 to 173 in Sep 2002, despite the increasing complexity of the projects under implementation.

In all, 542 projects worth Rs. 2,13,134 crore are on monitor of Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. Out of these, 75 projects are ahead of their schedule, 173 on schedule, 170 delayed, 76 without date of commissioning and 48 without updated completion schedule.

In the Xth Plan, out of 542 projects being monitored, 423 are expected to be completed. The initiatives taken for effective monitoring include adoption of the latest management techniques and increasing awareness among the project authorities for the use of latest project management tools and best practices available in India and abroad. The visits to various project sites in States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, U.P and Tamil Nadu made by the Minister have yielded good results and the projects are on fast track.

Revamping Of 20-Point Programme Initiated

With an aim to revamp the 20-point programme all the ministries have been asked to give feedback on all the 119 items. The review the working of all the schemes will help in scraping those, which have outlived their utility and ensuring effective monitoring of the beneficial ones.

Maiden Efforts For Smoother Utilisation Of MPLADS Funds

In order to have interaction with the Members of Parliament and for their suggestions on modifying the guidelines for MPLADS, the first ever workshop for the MPs was held on 6^th August, 2002 and the excercise was repeated in December. The MPs made suggestions on increase in annual allocation, provision of an assistant for MPLADS works, transparency and accountability during implementation by district authorities, provision of maintenance cost in the fund etc..

With the constant efforts of the Ministry the utilization of funds under the scheme, meant for creation of durable public utility assets has risen from 54.6% in March, 1998 to 76.3% in November, 2002. During the year 2002-2003 (upto 27^th December 2002) Rs. 1372 crore were sanctioned as against the budget of Rs. 1580 crore. Out of the 627717 works sanctioned so far, 488266 have been completed.

The process of release of funds for the scheme has been streamlined to make the process faster and more transparent. The money is now dispatched to the district authorities within three working days of the sanction of work.

Two exhibitions on ‘MPLADS’ and ‘Major Central Sector Projects’ were also organised to present pictorial overview of the various works completed under MPLADS and major Central Sector Projects under the monitoring of the Ministry, which were inaugurated by Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Surveys On Unorganized Manufacturing Sector, Disability, Housing Condition, Village Facilities

Key results of 56^th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) are out and those of 57^th round will be published soon. Fieldwork of NSS 56^th round, devoted to unorganized manufacturing sector, employment and unemployment and consumer expenditure, was conducted from July 2000 to June 2001. In the NSS 57^th round data were collected on economic and operational characteristics of unorganized enterprises in the service sector (excluding trade and finance). The field work of 58^th round on disability, housing condition, village facilities and slum particulars has just finished and the processing of data is taking place simultaneously.

During the year National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) conducted a Diagnostic Survey on Cattle for National Commission on Cattle. The survey was done in four districts Sonipat and Sirsa in Haryana and Nellore and Rangareddy in Andhra Pradesh. The aim was to find whether the reasons for change in cattle population, specially the decline could be estimated through sample survey of house holds and cattle enterprises.