First Independent Review Mission for Backward Regions Grant Fund State Report

Investment Menu

The investment menu defined in the BRGF guidelines is broad and funds are largely untied and discretionary. The BRGF Programme Guidelines sets a few strings on the use of funds, e.g. maximum 5 percent of the funds can be allocated for provision of adequate functionaries for the Panchayats for planning and implementation, and the funds cannot be spent for construction of religious structures, structures of religious institutions, construction of welcome arches or similar activities⁷.

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  84% of the total funds released for 2007-08 have been committed for use in the 5 priority sectors identified by the state - Health (sub-health centers), Women and Child Welfare (Anganwadi Centers), Education (additional classrooms), CC Roads and IAY (Apna ghar)
  

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  93% of the total funds released for 2008-09 have been committed for use in these 5 priority sectors.
  

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  2% of the funds for 2007-08 and 08-09 each used for construction of Panchayat Ghar.
  

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  11% of the funds of 2007-08 and 5% of 2008-09 spent on construction of community centers.
  

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  10% of 2007-08 funds and 37% of 2008-09 funds used for construction of Apna Ghar (IAY)
  

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  The average cost of the projects is small, Rs 1.75 lakhs in FY 2007/08 and 1.22 lakhs in FY 2008/09. On the completed projects in FY2007/08, the average costs have been 1.63 Lakhs.
  

At the district level, the table below shows the use of funds within FY 2007/08 for Balaghat District. The average costs of the projects in Balaghat District is Rs.1.1 lakhs, but the projects on average vary from a low of Rs.25-35,000 for Apna Ghar to Rs. 19 lakhs for education and Rs. 5.98 lakhs for roads. The average project size without considering the schemes on rural connectivity and IAY is Rs.3.93 laks. The average size of the road/bridge projects is high as it includes a bridge in village Bhima (Block Birsa) costing Rs.99.7 lakhs. 93.4% has been incurred on 1045 completed and 661 in-progress works.

The State monitors and ensures that the planned projects comply with the minimum allocation for SC/ST and there is a clear overview of these projects in both districts and at the state level. Though the guidelines permit augmenting Indira Awas Yojna to meet portion of the backlog in the provision of new housing, a large scale allocation to Apna Ghar – one house in each GP each year - and thereby tying up to 12% allocation to this activity needs to be reviewed by the State.