Srinagar, Sep 24: Almost two years after the State Finance Commission (SFC) submitted its report to the government recommending for equitable development of all the regions of the state, the proposal is yet to see the light of the day.
The Commission, which was constituted to study the regional disparity and provide blueprint for development of the three regions, Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh presented its findings to the government in November 2010 after consuming three years for completing the task incurring expenditure of crores of rupees.
The report brought to fore that Kashmir was lagging behind other region on developmental front in many areas. Progress in health, education, irrigation and drinking water facility, power and road connectivity were some basic parameters followed by the commission in its report.
A senior official said, in September 2011 government constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to suggest measures for implementation of some major recommendations of the five volume report.
It was to propose for constitution of State Planning and Development Council (SPDC), as recommended by the SFC, to fix development priorities in J&K and function as a think-tank to oversee the development process, suggest on institutional mechanism for coordination and monitoring of proposed sector/development administrations, restructuring of development administrations (existing mechanism/institutions), allocation of plan resources among other issues.
The committee had to report back to the government within three months. However there has been no progress.
“Government is working on implementing the report,” said Chief Secretary Madhav Lal.
Separately, in 2011, government had constituted a cabinet sub-committee comprising Finance Minister and ministers from the concerned departments for examining the SFC report and suggest measures for its implementation.
Now in a latest, officials said the CS-headed committee has engaged two consultants to prepare “roadmap” for rolling out the much-hyped Commission report.
Officials said initially the consultants were hired for four months in March this year for suggesting implementation of the SFC report. However in May this year they were granted another extension of six years.
They were also tasked to identify critical gaps in infrastructure in districts and suggest measures to address their developmental backwardness and suggest broader framework for distribution of resources amongst various sectors out of the allocations earmarked for CD Blocks.
A committee member said it was a fact that they could not complete the task in set time.
“It will take more time,” he said. “The consultants have started the ground work.”
The report had pointed out that Valley was underdeveloped in key sectors including education, expansion of roads and flyover network.
It highlighted that per capita income in Kashmir had fallen compared to other region and its share in gazetted services has come down to less than 35 percent and it is fast dwindling despite Kashmir having more population.
The report concluded that Jammu has shown remarkable progress in the development mainly due to industrialization and also diversion of funds from Valley during past 20 years.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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