Bhubaneswar: The Mohan Majhi government in Odisha has enhanced financial power of block development officers (BDOs) and engineers at the panchayat samiti level.
This followed the state Cabinet nod to amendments in the Odisha Panchayat Samiti Accounting Procedure Rules, 2002, on Wednesday.
According to the Cabinet decision, the financial power of BDOs to pass bills of panchayat samiti works has been raised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh without further countersignature of the chairman of the panchayat samiti concerned. The authority to accord administrative approval of plans and estimates for panchayat samiti projects has also been delegated to the CDO-cum-EO, Zilla Parishad to expedite financial approvals and ensure smooth implementation of developmental schemes.
Similarly, the administrative approval powers for general development schemes have also been revised. The BDOs can now approve projects up to Rs 20 lakh, while the Panchayat Samiti chairpersons can approve projects up to Rs 50 lakh, and the executive officer of Zilla Parishads will now exercise approval powers for projects above Rs 50 lakh.
For general developmental schemes with or without MGNREGA components, junior/assistant engineers can now accord technical sanction of up to Rs 5 lakh, while assistant executive engineers have been empowered to sanction projects worth up to Rs 20 lakh. Executive engineers will sanction projects of up to Rs 1 crore and superintending engineers up to Rs 4 crore. The projects above Rs 4 crore will be sanctioned by the chief engineer.
For developmental works under the MGNREGA scheme, the panchayat technical assistants will now accord technical sanction up to Rs 5 lakh, while the sanctioning power of all other engineers remains the same.
“These amendments will expedite bill processing, ensure timely approvals and facilitate smooth implementation of developmental programmes across all panchayat samitis while retaining the supervisory role of the chairman,” said chief secretary Manoj Ahuja.
This decision, which is set to spark fresh political wrangling, will lead to the curtailment of powers of the elected representatives of the panchayat samitis, most of which are controlled by the opposition BJD.
The Cabinet also approved Rs 118.98 crore for the procurement of 428 ambulances and a one-time settlement scheme for e-challans issued to vehicle owners for violation of the MV Act.