Latest news with #forGrants
Indian Express
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Jal Shakti schemes: MPs meet today to discuss issues, concerns
Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil has invited around 60 Lok Sabha members to hold an informal interaction Thursday on the points and concerns they had raised during a discussion on his Ministry's Demand for Grants for financial year 2025-26. The meeting, which will be held at the Parliament House Annexe building, is likely to see members discussing issues related to different schemes of the Ministry including the Jal Jeevan Mission and Namami Gange. The meeting comes at a time when the Centre has decided to send 100 teams of Central Nodal Officers (CNO) for ground inspection of Jal Jeevan Mission schemes across the country amid concerns over irregularities in several states. A source said the Ministry has written to around 60 Lok Sabha members, inviting them to attend the interaction. These MPs, representing almost all political parties in Parliament, had taken part in the discussion on the Ministry's Demand for Grants 2025-26, the source said. In that discussion in March, several MPs had raised the issue of alleged irregularities and corruption in implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission. Participating in the discussion on March 19, NCP (Sharad Pawar) member Nilesh Dnyandev Lanke said, 'Har Ghar Jal is also a very important scheme of our Prime Minister. A target of providing 55 litre water to every household has been set under this scheme. Around 830 schemes have been sanctioned in my constituency and 972 villages have been covered under this scheme. Officials claimed that out of 830, works of 230 schemes have been completed. But the ground reality is different and not even 50 schemes have been completed yet… a lot of corruption cases came to light and local villagers have sent me written complaints about it.' 'These complaints are about the tendering process, quality of work and payment of bills, and corruption is quite visible at first sight. Works have been awarded to ineligible contractors. Bills have been generated for incomplete works. To lay pipes, it is necessary to dig at least 4-5 feet, but pipes have been fitted at the depth of 1 feet only. I have got photos and videos of these corrupt activities. I have sent a pen-drive and photocopies to the Hon'ble Minister too,' said Lanke, who represents Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. An Expenditure Secretary-led panel had recommended a 46 per cent cut in the Jal Shakti Ministry's demand of Central funding of Rs 2.79 lakh crore for four years ending December 2028, amid concerns about some states approving inflated work contracts to provide tap water connections to rural households under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Since the launch of the Mission in 2019, 6.4 lakh water supply schemes with a total estimated cost of Rs 8.29 lakh crore – more than double the scheme's original outlay of Rs 3.60 lakh crore (Centre: Rs 2.08 lakh crore, States:1.52 lakh crore) – have been approved by the states. To meet the additional requirement of funds, the Jal Shakti Ministry had approached the Expenditure Finance Committee, headed by the Expenditure Secretary, for approval of Rs 2.79 lakh crore additional Central funding over and above Rs 2.08 lakh crore. However, the EFC recommended only Rs 1.51 lakh crore as the Central share, 46 per cent lower than the amount sought by the Ministry. On May 21, The Indian Express reported that an investigation of the data uploaded by states and UTs on the Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard showed that a crucial change in tender guidelines three years ago lifted the check on expenditure, and led to cost escalations. This resulted in additional costs totalling Rs 16,839 crore for 14,586 schemes, an increase of 14.58 per cent from their estimated cost. Harikishan Sharma, Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express' National Bureau, specializes in reporting on governance, policy, and data. He covers the Prime Minister's Office and pivotal central ministries, such as the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Ministry of Cooperation, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Rural Development, and Ministry of Jal Shakti. His work primarily revolves around reporting and policy analysis. In addition to this, he authors a weekly column titled "STATE-ISTICALLY SPEAKING," which is prominently featured on The Indian Express website. In this column, he immerses readers in narratives deeply rooted in socio-economic, political, and electoral data, providing insightful perspectives on these critical aspects of governance and society. ... Read More
New Indian Express
05-05-2025
- Health
- New Indian Express
Flying squads to keep a tab on drug peddling across Tamil Nadu
COIMBATORE: After Chennai and Madurai, the health department has taken steps to form special flying squads under the drug administration department in all districts across the state. Officials from the department said preliminary work has started to launch the squads, and it is designated to curb drug abuse cases based on intelligence inputs. During the discussion on the Demands for Grants in the Assembly last month, Health Minister Ma Subramanian announced that they would launch special flying squads across the state to prevent the supply and smuggling of sedative drugs. Following his announcement, the food safety and drug administration department has started works to execute the plan. Officials of the department say the inception of flying squads is aimed at tackling drug abuses and also the sale of adulterated, counterfeit and spurious medicines. 'These squads, comprising drug inspectors, will work with the stakeholder departments such as the police, food safety and others. This strategic move has been approved by the state government to enhance surveillance and monitoring across the pharmaceutical supply chain, especially scheduled drugs. 'The primary objective of these squads is to conduct regular and surprise inspections, based on intelligence inputs about illegal drug supply through courier services and online services. By doing so, the department aims to safeguard public health and maintain the integrity of the pharmaceutical market,' said an official. 'The squads are functioning in Chennai and Madurai, and are working with a minimal manpower. Once it is expanded across the state, the department must form a team for two districts. In the administration, every zone has two districts. While the department is handling excess workload with minimal manpower, this initiative may add to the difficulties. We have sent the list of manpower availability and shortage to the headquarters when they started the preliminary works for the project. We expect the department to recruit additional manpower for flying squads,' the official added.
The Hindu
22-04-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Govt. doctors' federation disappointed as health budget does not address their demands
The Federation of Government Doctors Associations (FOGDA) has registered its disappointment as the health budget did not address the demands of government doctors particularly their long-pending demand to review Government Order 354 relating to pay band compression. On Tuesday, a day after the debate on Demand for Grants for the Health department, P. Balakrishnan, convenor of FOGDA and president of Democratic Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association, said that government doctors in the State have been waiting since 2017 for their long pending demand to be addressed. 'Review of GO 354 issued in 2009 is pending since 2017. When we protested in 2019, the present Chief Minister had then assured us of his support. We have been hoping that our demand will be fulfilled in the last four years and looked forward to an announcement in this year's health budget but we are deeply disappointed. The State government is constructing hospital buildings but is not considering the demands of the manpower. It needs to spend around ₹200 crore a year to fulfil our demand,' he said. FOGDA also urged the State government to redistribute nearly 1,600 financially sanctioned posts in GO 354, which were reduced in a restructuring exercise, to the old medical college hospitals as per the patient load. This included 500 posts of professors, 450 posts of associate professors and nearly 600 posts of assistant professors/senior residents/tutors. Dr. Balakrishnan added that as per GO 293 (relating to payment of allowances for doctors), an allowance of ₹3,000 for Primary Health Centre medical officers with MBBS qualification have not been given till date. Similarly, nearly 75% of specialists were not receiving the speciality allowance under the same GO. 'We are requesting the intervention of the Chief Minister to look into our demands. We have made several representations to the Health Minister and Health Secretary. We are conducting our executive committee meeting on April 27 to discuss the next course of action,' he said. Representatives of Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association, Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association and Government All Doctors Association were present.
