Panel reviews progress of work

The District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee met here on Monday, with Virudhunagar Member of Parliament B. Manicka Tagore and Theni MP J. M. Haroon Rashid, the Co-Chairmen of Committee and Forward Bloc’s Usilampatti MLA, P.V. Kathiravan, committee member, assessing the implementation of various schemes with assistance from the Central Government.

Collector Anshul Mishra, who is also the Secretary and Member of the Committee, apprised the elected representatives of the progress in various schemes.

The schemes reviewed include the projects taken up in 2010-11 and 2011-12 under the MP Local Area Development Fund.

The works taken up under the Total Sanitation Campaign, which began in 2001-02 and is scheduled to run till 2016-17 were reviewed. Under this scheme, 9,804 toilets were constructed in houses in the rural areas of Madurai district in 2011-12 at a total cost of Rs. 3.13 crore. For the financial year of 2012-13, Rs. 8.35 crore has been allotted and 18,170 toilets were being constructed.

Under the Indira Housing Scheme, Rs. 2.82 crore and Rs. 3.12 crore was allotted for Madurai district in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively.

The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), in which the Centre bears the full project cost for laying roads that provide connectivity to unconnected rural habitations, and another similar scheme funded by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was also looked at.

The committee reviewed the working of various schemes undertaken by different Government agencies and departments including the Madurai Corporation, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Departments of Education, Animal Husbandry, Forest, Highways, Horticulture and Agriculture besides the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board and the Municipalities.

Performance under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was also reviewed.

Arun Sundar Dayalan, Additional Collector and Project Director of District Rural Development Agency was also present in the meeting along with officials from various Government departments.