Even after nine years of launching of Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) scheme on a pilot basis, the State Government has not been able to spend the Central assistance of ` 5.45 crore.
A dream project of former president A P J Abdul Kalam, PURA aims at achieving sustainable and inclusive growth in rural areas through a multi-pronged strategy, has remained a non-starter.
The project was launched on a pilot basis in Kujang block of Jagatsinghpur district in 2004-05 with an objective to bridge the rural-urban divide and achieve balanced socio-economic development by providing physical and social infrastructure to the rural people. But the project could not take off due to a callous district administration.
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) had sanctioned ` 5.45 crore under PURA scheme for Kujang block. Fifteen villages of four panchayats of the block __ Bhutmundei, Biswali, Paradipgarh and Nuagarh __ were planned to be covered under the scheme.
Urban facilities like electrification, drinking water supply, concrete roads, telecommunication, Internet and IT services, better health care, education and marketing for agricultural produce were to be provided to the cluster of villages under the project.
The Central assistance was to be utilised in five years to develop the infrastructure. The district administration has not been able utilise the assistance.
Recently, the MoRD asked the State Government to submit the utilisation certificate (UC) for the assistance given under the programme.
While seeking a status report on the PURA project, the Panchayati Raj Department has asked the Project Director of the District Rural Development Agency, Jagatsinghpur, to submit the UC for onward transmission to the Centre.
“If the amount, released by the Government of India, is not utilised till date, the unspent balance may be refunded to the Centre under intimation to this department,” said a recent letter from the Panchayati Raj Department.
While the district administration has failed to submit utilisation certificates, there are allegations of embezzlement of funds, provided under PURA, by Government officials and local politicians of the ruling BJD.
According to an elected representative of Bhutmundei panchayat, ` 1.59 crore was sanctioned for construction of a market complex at Bhutmundei. The proposed market complex could not be completed due to administrative apathy.