Comments
Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has pulled up the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for delay in projects.
“The execution of 702 projects costing more than ₹5 crore each has been reviewed. Around 400 projects are running behind schedule for various reasons such as delay in approvals by local bodies, delay in handing over project sites, delay in release of funds by clients, environmental and forest clearances, besides internal administrative reasons,” according to a statement from the Ministry.
The functioning of CPWD came in for a critical review at a two-day brainstorming session in New Delhi where the top brass of Urban Development Ministry and CPWD, besides 75 Chief Engineers of CPWD from across the country, participated.
15-point charter of action
The Minister has suggested a 15-point charter of action to improve the functioning of CPWD.
The measures include standard operating procedures, including specific timeframes to be evolved for each construction activity, making project details such as cost and schedule available in the public domain online and through "information display boards'' at all work sites, and enforcing accountability by taking action against officers responsible for delays in execution of works.
Naidu also directed that payments to contractors be made through electronic mode only and only substantial and policy issues to be referred to CPWD headquarters and all other issues to be disposed off/resolved at the level of regional heads.
“File clearance should not take more than five days and in case of delay, reasons for the same to be recorded and action to be taken if the delay is found unjustified,” Naidu said.
It was also decided that CPWD would seek replacement of budgetary mode of funding by a non-lapsable mode to address the delays in release of funds.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.