Planning process at a standstill

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 27

Despite making the right noise about the need to retain the planning process in the aftermath of the scrapping of the Planning Commission, the Congress-led government has failed to devise a road map for the state.

As a fallout, ill-equipped departments have been told to treat the budget allocations this financial year as the plan outlay with no focus on long-term planning or mid-term review of policies.

What we have now is a haphazard system without any checks and balances that could go haywire. The situation is expected to get worse as the Assembly elections near. The immediate repercussion has been that the departments are proposing outrageous schemes at the behest of their political heads. District plans are being conceived with budgetary ceilings instead of focusing on outlays. The plans of Tehri Garhwal and Rudraprayag districts have outlays earmarked keeping in mind the budgetary ceiling.

Though the Uttarakhand government has not disbanded the State Planning Commission and the Department of Planning, both these institutions continue to be uncertain about their future.

The State Planning Commission continues to be rudderless as the Vice-Chairman of the commission since his appointment in 2013 did not take over the responsibility of the post.

Similarly, the Planning Department too has little work after the disbanding of the Planning Commission at the Centre. Earlier, the Planning Department kept an eye on resource mobilization, implementation of schemes prepared by other departments and even stressed on optimum utilisation of funds. However, it is now restricted in its approach due to lack of clarity.

“In the past, the Planning Department could examine schemes, question heads of departments about the utility of schemes, thereby preventing launch of frivolous schemes at the cost of the ex chequer,” said MC Joshi, Secretary, Planning.

In Uttarakhand alone, schemes such taking up of large scale bambo plantation, extraction of oil through Jatropha plantation and setting up of a separate department for craftsmen engaged in pottery died prematurely after the Planning Department raised objections.

Early this year, the government announced the setting up of an advisory body called the Policy Planning Group to advise the government on various issues of the planning process. This advisory body too called upon the government to strengthen its planning arm but no effort had been made.