Rajiv Seva Kendras yet to come up

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the 11th Five-Year Plan is coming to an end, 368 gram panchayats and eight blocks are yet to start construction of Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras under the much touted Bharat Nirman programme.  The Centre announced in 2009 the construction of a ‘mini secretariat’ named after Rajiv Gandhi in each gram panchayat and at block level to provide a permanent office to carry out activities related to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The programme was launched in January 2010 and the Government fixed an estimated cost of the Rajiv Gandhi Seve Kendra building at gram panchayat level at Rs 10 lakh while the cost for block level building was fixed at Rs 25 lakh.After two years, 368 out of 6,234 panchayats and eight out of 314 blocks have not started the building construction works with labour component from MGNREGS.Non-availability of land is cited as the major reason for the delay in construction of Seva Kendras by the respective project directors of district rural development agencies (DRDAs). As labour and construction material costs have been increased by several times, they requested the State Government for revision of the building cost. The State Government has directed the district collectors and project directors of DRDAs facing such problem to take up construction of the Seva Kendras on the first floor of the existing gram panchayat office building if  suitable.On the cost escalation front, the Government clarified that the cost of construction of the seva kendras should be limited to the revised rate of the labour and material costs. The cost revision should be based on the labour and material cost prevailing as on October 1, 2011. If the construction work taken up within the initial estimated cost but delayed due to reasons beyond the Government control, no revision in the cost will be allowed.  If the cost escalation is due to change in the building plan, the additional cost has to be met from schemes other than the MGNREGS, a circular issued by the Panchayati Raj Department on Tuesday  said.