Patna: The agriculture department has decided to take feedback from field officials on the way its schemes should be formulated for effective implementation.
This first-of-its-kind exercise started on Friday and will end on Saturday. It is expected to usher in a paradigm shift in formulating schemes that, till now, used to be the domain of officials at the headquarters.
On Friday, the department organised a workshop to collect inputs and suggestions from the field officials. The officials will meet on Saturday for the nodal officers - who formulate the details of the schemes - to share issues and arrive at a consensus before giving final touches to the scheme details.
Agriculture minister Prem Kumar said: "We have gathered here to collect feedback from officials who implement the schemes at the ground level. They should share their problems."
The department implements 78 schemes. Prem, speaking in Patna, pointed out that the field officials keep on interacting with farmers and they should also share the issues raised by the beneficiaries.
A field official from one of the north Bihar districts said: "This is for the first time that the department is soliciting our suggestions for the implementation of schemes. We hope the points we put forward are taken seriously and the schemes are fine-tuned for effective implementation at the ground level."
Principal secretary Sudhir Kumar said the schemes run by the government would be sanctioned by April 15, while in case of central schemes, the necessary formalities would be done latest by April 30.
Prem had earlier taken special initiative for the early sanction of schemes so that the field officials could get enough time for implementation. It had come to his notice that some of the schemes were sanctioned in the second half of the 2017-18 fiscal, leading to the non-utilisation of funds.
Keeping Prem's directive in mind, the officials started finalising details of schemes for 2018-19 in March itself so that the majority of them could be sanctioned in the first month of the new financial year.
