Dimapur, July 6 (MExN): Union Minister of Rural Development today assured The Ministers in-charge of Rural Development from North-Eastern States that the Centre-State sharing of funds is likely to be enhanced shortly.
A PIB press release stated that the Ministers in-charge of Rural Development from North-Eastern States, who called Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Union Minister of Rural Development, submitted a Memorandum requesting for changing the present formula of Centre-State sharing of funds of schemes from 75:25 to 90:10 as the North-Eastern States finds it difficult to raise funds to the present ratio due to availability of meager resources
The State Ministers also urged Dr. Singh to help them in tackling the drinking water problem in particular as most of the NE States are all hilly terrains and their geographical situation is different from the rest of the country, the release stated.
In this regard, the release disclosed that Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, assured the Ministers visiting him of all cooperation from his Ministry and informed them that the matter has already been taken up with the Planning Commission and is likely to get resolved shortly.
Earlier at the concluding day of the two-day Conference on ‘Sustainable Drinking Water Supply, Sanitation for all-2012’ at New Delhi, the Minister of Rural Development, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had assured the participating the State Ministers In-charge of Rural Water supply & Sanitation that there will be no resource crunch in the implementation of schemes under Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation.
In this regard, the Dr Singh urged them to monitor the implementation of schemes at all levels, State, District and Block to review the performance of each and every Panchayat and formulate District specific programmes.
The Central minister asked the States to focus on problems of arsenic and fluoride affected habitations on priority basis and also requested the States to explore possibilities of use of non-conventional energy to cut down costs of water supply systems.
He also emphasized the need for timely completion of all projects under Bharat Nirman.
Also while speaking on ‘Sanitation for all’, the Minister emphasized that all the Anganwadis and schools should be covered on priority basis and community toilets should be made where community is willing to manage and maintain the assets created. The inclusion of solid and liquid waste management is recent initiatives and the States need to promote the same, he said. The Minister assured that the demand for enhancing norms for construction cost of toilets will be duly considered. He further emphasized the need of strict vigilance and monitoring systems especially where the work has not started at village, block and district level The NGOs and Self-Helf Groups can be involved in the programmes of rural sanitation for awareness creation and for better water management, Dr. Singh opined.
The Conference was attended by representatives of various Ministries/Departments like Ministry of Water Resources, CGWB, Agriculture, New and Renewable Energy, Planning Commission as well as representatives of external support agencies like WSP, WHO, UNICEF, the PIB release stated.
