Team Herald

MARGAO: Goa is likely to get around Rs 30 crore from the Centre under the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission provided it submits the Integrated Cluster Action plan by February 28, 2017. This was disclosed by Vineeta Hariharan at a workshop held at Matanhy Saldanha Administrative Complex.

The Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 21, 2016 aims at providing facilities available in urban areas to rural area without disturbing the rural environment of the place.

The mission aims at achieving its goals within a period of three years and is planned in three phases with each phase having 100 rural clusters. In Goa, the Xeldem cluster in Quepem taluka has been selected for the first phase.

All the 11 villages of the Quepem block have been included in the Xeldem cluster. Ironically, while the panchas and secretaries of 10 panchayats were present for the workshop, there was no representative from Xeldem after which the cluster is named.

Skill development training linked to economic activities, agriculture, services and processing, digital amenities and literacy, water supply, sanitation, solid and liquid waste management, access to village streets with drains, village street lights, health, up gradation of primary, secondary and higher secondary schools, inter village road connectivity, public transport and LPG connection are desired for every household in the cluster.

While 70 per cent of the funds for the projects identified under this mission will be by convergence of existing schemes, 30 per cent will be provided by the Centre directly. There is a possibility that the Centre might increase its contribution to 40 per cent.

Except Assam, all the States are included in the first phase out of which 25 States have already submitted their Integrated Cluster Action Plan. But Goa along with Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are lagging behind.

Collector Swapnil Naik urged the participants to prepare the plan seriously especially as Goa’s work was hampered due to the elections and related work for the government staff. If the plan is not submitted by February 28, Goa may well loose the Rs 30 crore it would have got to develop the rural sector.