NTR dist must attain 5th place

Dasari Srinivasa Rao
Vijayawada

The works related to the Andhra Pradesh government’s prestigious ‘Manabadi Nadu-Nedu’ scheme are progressing really slowly in the NTR district. Even though plenty of funds are available in the respective schools’ bank accounts, the pace of the work is not satisfactory. Due to its poor performance in the second phase of the ‘Manabadi Nadu-Nedu’ project, the NTR district now stands at the 10th position in the State.

The State government has assigned supervision of the ‘Nadu-Nedu’ works to the Panchayat Raj Department. The district administration is taking all measures to speed up the works and has asked the Sachivalayam Engineering Assistants to oversee them.

The State government has sanctioned Rs 241.48 crore for 950 projects under the scheme –including the construction of additional classrooms, compound walls, and other infrastructure facilities — of which Rs 48.41 crore has been spent so far by the NTR district. With 55.91 per cent marks, it obtained the 10th rank.

The State government launched the second phase works of ‘Nadu–Nadu’ in March and credited funds directly to the school’s bank account. Based on the directives of the School Education Department, the Nadu–Nedu works have been assigned to the school’s Parents Monitoring Committees (SMC) under the community contracting system and with immediate crediting of the funds, works have been started.

According to the Samagra Shiksha officials, Rs 120.49 crore was sanctioned for 255 projects to construct 578 additional classrooms in 17 mandals. Also, Rs.110 crore was sanctioned to provide infrastructure facilities like drinking water, toilets with running water, major and minor repairs, and electricity works.

Similarly, Rs.10.94 core was sanctioned for the construction of 166 compound walls. Due to various reasons, the work is too slow, but the funds are available in the schools’ bank accounts, sources said. The department has spent Rs.48.41 crore so far, of which Rs.39.37 crore was spent by the SMCs, and Rs.3.89 crore by the State government for buying cement. The overall expenditure on the total project was just 16 per cent.

Despite the State government providing cement, sand, iron and other building materials, unfortunately, the works are not progressing as per expectations. As of now, the schools raised 9,346 tonnes of cement indent. The department has supplied 7,605.50 tonnes so far and paid Rs.4.05 core. NTR district is ranked in 16th position in supplying cement.

Meanwhile, the supply of sand is also one of the obstructions. The sources said that about 250 sand depots were arranged across the district for supplying sand to all schools to avoid delays in the construction process. 12,088.8 metric tonnes of sand indent was raised by the concerned schools, and the department has supplied 1,900 MTs so far, said the source.

Collector unhappy
At a review meeting, NTR District Collector Dr S Dilli Rao expressed unhappiness over the overall progress of the Nadu–Nedu works in the district. The Collector was angered by the lackadaisical attitude of the officials.

He further directed all mandal-level officers to monitor the works and expedite them. The district’s aim is to reach fifth place in the State. He said all officials should inspect school building works, identify lapses, if any, and chalk out a plan of action to overcome them. Also, they may utilise the Sachivalayam staff’s services to avoid delays in the supply of sand, cement, and other building materials.