Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Jan. 12: With regard to the issue of grant-in-aid (GIA) funds that has been grapping the headline of local dailies in the past few days, the Nagaland State Village Development Board Secretary Association (NSVDBSA) has informed that the funds have already been released for Dimapur, Peren, and Mon district.
A press statement by the NSVDBSA president on Saturday informed that the association has conducted a detailed inquiry into the matter in all the 74 Rural Development (RD) blocks to find out if there was any misuse of the funds as alleged.
‘The association after the inquiry has found that the funds have already been released for three districts namely—Dimapur, Peren, and Mon. The funds are kept in the account of the deputy commissioner (DC), who is the Chairman of VDB. The release for the majority RD blocks has been stalled due to certain technicalities as most of the VDBs are still yet to furnish the required documents such as utilisation certificate, audit report of the previous funds released, and new scheme proposal which are required for the release of the fund,’ the press statement read.
To confirm the statement, Eastern Mirror contacted the DC of Peren. While talking to this reporter, the DC of Peren, S Tainiu, confirmed that the district has received its GIA on Jan. 9. She clarified the district had received the fund only on that date and not as stated in the local dailies by two officials which states that the ‘GIA fund for 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18 have been released to all the blocks under Peren district along with Dimapur and Mon before Christmas.’
“We are trying to speed-up the process but there are certain formalities which we have to go through. Initially, the fund has to be deposited in the DCs account because it has been received under that name of the VDB chairman. I also have to consult the project director of RD as the VDBs are yet to furnish the required documents such as utilisation certificate, audit report of the previous funds released, and new scheme proposal. Once it is completed, the funds will be released and transferred to the respective VDB account,” the DC explained.
Several attempts were made to contact the DC of Dimapur and Mon but went unanswered.
Meanwhile, in the press statement, the association has requested the block development officers to be in their place of posting and help the VDBs to furnish all the required documents for the immediate released of the funds without further delay.
“The association appreciates the leader of opposition for bringing out this issue in the public domain and playing the role of constructive opposition and for bringing out the issues that are detrimental for the rural poor,” the press release added.
