The Union Minority Affairs Ministry, led by Union Minister Smriti Irani, has scrapped about 58,456 “units” or small infrastructure projects that were sanctioned under a centrally sponsored socio-economic development scheme. As per media reports, the Ministry took this step after it was discovered that these projects were defunct and had never taken off even after being proposed nearly one-and-a-half decades back in 2008-09 when the Congress party was in power.
An official in the Minority Ministry said, “We have done this in consonance with the states. After having found that these units had not taken off in the past decade, we had asked the states to consider whether they want to drop the proposals altogether.” Interestingly, while several non-BJP state governments hanker for Muslim votes, it is pertinent to note that more than Rs 4,000 crores are lying unutilised with the state governments under various minority schemes. Even with crores lying unutilised, over 50,000 projects have been defunct for over a decade and a half.
Minority Affairs Ministry reviews PMJVK projects
Since 2008-09, the Union Minority Affairs Ministry has reviewed more than 11 lakh projects that come under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK). Notably, the Ministry implements this centrally sponsored scheme and develops small units or infrastructure projects for socio-economic development.
Under PMJVK, States and UTs send their proposals to the Union Minority Affairs Ministry. Afterward, they are considered and approved by the Empowered Committee of PMJVK while taking into consultation with the concerned Union ministries. Funds are released to the states and UTs on a project-wise basis.
According to reports, officials within the Union Minority Affairs Ministry have revealed that a large sum of money, to the tune of more than Rs 4,000 crore, remains unutilized with states under various schemes announced for minorities.
As per media reports, an official in the Ministry said, “We have now said that future projects will be sanctioned, and funds will be given based on utilisation certificates. We will also map all physical assets under the Ministry schemes through Gati Shakti and geotag them to understand the actual utilisation of funds and the building of infrastructure.”
Between the period of 2014-15 to 2021-22, an expenditure of Rs 9,37,819 lakh was incurred under this PMJVK scheme. More than 50 major projects were sanctioned during the same period and these include school buildings, hostels, and classroom aids.
It is worth noting that the Central government funds 60% of the project while 40% is shared by the state or UT governments. However, the projects are jointly sanctioned by the state and centre.
Post 2014-15, projects worth Rs 17,65,904 lakh have been sanctioned by the Union Minority Affairs Ministry under this PMJVK scheme out of which the central share has been Rs 12,33,688.93 lakh.
