In A shocking revelation, the J&K government Friday admitted it has failed to utilise 78 percent funds provided by the Centre under Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan. It has now requested the Centre to give it more time—the funds were to be utilized by March 2009—to implement the scheme “in a more efficient manner”.

“We have requested the government of India to extend the deadline and we hope it will be granted,” state Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather told the Assembly on Friday. He said that out of Rs 29954.85 crore received by the state under the scheme, Rs 6367.53 crore have been utilised on the various schemes and projects and blamed bureaucrats for the gross under-utilisation of funds.

“The money if used could have brought a massive change on the development front but due to the criminal negligence and lackadaisical approach of officials the funds remained unutilised,” Rather said. “Omar sahib (Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has warned the concerned officers and agencies to execute the programme in its true spirit or face stringent action.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced the Reconstruction Plan during his first visit to state in 2004. The plan was to be implemented in three years but was extended several times. The funds were supposed to be utilised for restoring damaged infrastructure, creating new infrastructure for delivery of basic services and set off strategic interventions to address the shortfall and imbalances in the state’s economy. Sadly, the plan has failed to meet any of these goals.

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