63% work under model village scheme over, TN tops the list

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government’s flagship Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), for targeted development of select villages, has seen 63% of its work completed, according to official data.

Tamil Nadu has clocked the best usage, completed 96% of the projects, followed by Uttar Pradesh which finished 88% of works. On the other hand, West Bengal has not completed a single project, the data shows.

The rural welfare programme was launched in October 2014 by PM Narendra Modi to develop model Gram Panchayats under the leadership of Members of Parliament (MPS). The project allows MPS to cherry pick a village to push development projects. So far, 1,418 Gram Panchayats have prepared Village Development Plans (VDP) with 72,720 projects. “But around 300 GPS identified under SAGY-II are yet to prepare VDP,” said a document of the rural development ministry.

With 37% incomplete work and 17% plans not available, the progress of the scheme will be reviewed later this month by officials and experts.

Adding to problems, official records also say that in 2014, the first phase of the programme saw adoption of 1,493 Gram Panchayats, but in the second phase with 2019, MPS adopted 348 Gram Panchayats, showing a sharp decline in the rate of adopting a village.

A senior Opposition MP maintained that picking one village over another is always a tricky choice. “There is always a fear that residents of villages left out in the scheme would be upset. After all, only five villages can be adopted in five years.”

Apart from West Bengal, the other big states where a large number of projects are pending are Assam (25%) of its work, Bihar (36%), Punjab (37%), Odisha (42%) and Maharashtra (44%).

The ministry has also identified that only 30% of utilization certificates or statement of expenditure have been shared by States/uts till July 15, 2020.