“Backward region grant fund” is a scheme muted by the central government for the backward areas of the country. This fund is meant to be dispersed to implement various schemes in the backward areas of the district depending upon the needs of the people.
It is the prerogative of the gram Sabha to start the projects that they want. There are about 250 districts where this scheme is in operation. Sirsa and Mahendergarh are two backward districts in Hariyana where this scheme is being implemented. When we visited these two districts, we realized that there were no gram Sabhas and yet backward region grant fund was being utilized by the State government. It was found that the money was transferred under the account of District Collector. The collector distributed the fund, according to the provision of the law, to the gram Sabha , on receiving the schemes forwarded by the said Gram Sabha. But the collector used the fund indiscriminately without getting any proposal from Gram Sabha.
Many political leaders exert pressure on the district collector and get works done using the backward region grant fund. A political leader had a big tract of agricultural land in a village. He pressurized the collector and got many works done around his land. Had this decision to use the fund been left to the gram Sabhas then the work around the neta’s land would not have seen the light of the day.
Certain young boys in the district of Sirsa conducted various gram sabhas and made proposals for use of backward region grant fund. Despite the fact that the provision of the law is very clear that proposals forwarded by the gram Sabha will be accepted by the collector and the und dispersed, accordingly, the collector has not deemed it fit to accept the proposals forwarded by these 18 villages or sanctioned the funds, even though one year has gone by.
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