November 5, 2013
Finance review every week to fast-track projects
In a bid to expedite implementation of departmental projects, the state finance secretary will hold a review meeting every Monday to take stock of progress and submit a report to chief secretary.
The decision was taken at a review meeting held by finance department officials at Nabanna on Monday to give impetus to project proposals and see that they get financial clearance quickly.
“Earlier, a review meeting on the status of submitted departmental files used to take place once a month. Now, the meet will take place every Monday. This will help expedite the process of clearing files and make way for financial approval“, a finance department official said.
Each week, reports will be submitted to the chief secretary and finally, to the chief minister, who will personally look into these departmental project proposals, he added.
Earlier, projects of over Rs 10 crore were regularly reviewed by the finance department. Now, even smaller ones will get special emphasis for faster clearance, say sources.
Financial advisors of different departments, appointed to clear projects in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 10 crore, will review the status of the projects.
Earlier, it was noticed that files from different departments used to pile up before the finance department to get sanctioned, causing much delay in implementing them. The Monday meetings will help speed up things.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has laid emphasis on speedy execution of projects. She made this clear in the last review meeting at Town Hall.
From October 1 this year, the base level for e-tendering was brought down from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for faster approval of projects in a transparent manner. This September, 14 new posts of financial advisers were created by the government to sanction departmental projects ranging between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 10 crore. This was done to minimize the burden of the finance department.
