DIMAPUR, JULY 17 (MExN): The Nagaland Public Rights Awareness and Action Forum (NPRAAF) today alleged impropriety in utilization of fund under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme in Nagaland state.
It also said that the forum was not satisfied with the Nagaland State Public Health Engineering Department’s (PHED) RTI disclosures on fund utilization.
A press note from the Information and Publicity Cell of the NPRAAF informed that it had filed an RTI on May 7, 2018 seeking copies of Actual Payment Receipt (APR) and documentary proof/photos of works executed and completed under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and division/district wise expenditure break up from 2015- 2018.
“However, the department could not furnish the same even after lapse of mandate period under RTI Act. The department has furnished vaguely prepared chart, scheme-wise expenditure statement on utilization of amount from 2015-17, after inordinate delay on July 14, 2018,” the NPRAAF informed.
Copies of the RTI disclosures, made available to the media by the forum, showed that 77 out of 86 works have been completed and the rest are under progress.
The NPRAAF however said that when it “picked some completed sites of the projects randomly and inquired if the schemes in question were satisfactorily carried out, none of the schemes were completed satisfactorily nor were implemented as per Government of India (GoI) guidelines.”
The forum added that it has “physically verified” the drinking water project under Tseminyu Town which was sufficiently funded under NRDWP under various heads. The department chart reads the project as completed, however the project is incomplete despite adequate funding by the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, it added.
The NPRAAF also pointed out that as per the RTI disclosure, Rs 2,50,000 was sanctioned to a particular union in Kohima during 2015-16 under the NRDWP drinking water scheme, and termed this as “out-rightly in contravention to GoI guidelines and therefore illegal.”
It meanwhile informed that the Government of India through the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had further sanctioned Rs 17,36,21000 under NRDWP on May 8, 2018. It therefore urged the public to be vigilant to ensure that the amount meant to provide drinking water under the said scheme is implemented strictly as per GoI guidelines unlike in the previous year.
The NPRAAF said it would monitor all the programmes under NRDWP and will not allow the fund to go in the hands of the unscrupulous persons but see to it that the scheme truly benefits the people. “If the fund meant for the specific projects under the schemes is diverted or misused, NPRAAF will not hesitate to write to the Government of India apprising the same, and to put fund embargo till proper measures are taken to judiciously implement the programme,” it warned.
