A hut at a village in Manoharpur, where 56 villages are to be developed under the Saranda Development Plan

Jamshedpur, June 30: The shaky chair of Manoharpur block development officer (BDO), an office that has seen two suspensions and replacements each in as many months, has blocked smooth progress of the Saranda Development Plan.

When the architect of that plan, Union minister Jairam Ramesh visits Saranda tomorrow he will not be pleased to find out that ever since it was set into motion two months after his first visit to the West Singhbhum forest Saranda in October 2011, Manoharpur has been without a full-time BDO.

Then circle officer of Manoharpur, Prince Bodwell Kujur held additional charge as BDO when the development plan was launched on December 3, 2011.

However, he was suspended for dereliction of duty in April and replaced by Baidhnath Oraon, a former BDO of Manoharpur.

Oraon also was put in the position of Manoharpur circle officer with additional charge of BDO.

The plan had only begun picking up pace, when Oraon was suspended by a Jharkhand High Court order after his name figured in the JPSC scam on June 20. Now, circle officer of Manjhari block Arjun Ram is holding additional charge as BDO of Manoharpur.

No development work can make any headway without the involvement of the BDO, especially when its entire focus is on the block in the heart of Saranda, the erstwhile Maoist stronghold.

Under the plan, the administration will develop 56 villages in Manoharpur by creating road connectivity, drinking water and irrigation facilities and houses.

Nodal officer of the Saranda Development Plan S.R. Natesh held the unstable position responsible for the slow pace or work under the initiative in Manoharpur.

“We were supposed to provide money to 6,000 people belonging to the below poverty line category, but so far we have been able to approach only 2,500 families,” he told The Telegraph.

Natesh, pointed out that inadequate staff in the BDO’s office also led to difficulty in identifying the remaining 3,500 beneficiaries.

According to the project, each beneficiary will get Rs 45,500 for building his own house. But sources said poor communication discouraged the poor from turning up at the office to open bank accounts.

The authorities in as many as seven banks at the block, too, are not able to offer the required money to the beneficiaries on time, as they are not willing to stock enough cash fearing Naxalite presence.

Natesh, who is also the divisional forest officer of Chaibasa (South), added construction of roads, check dams and bore wells under the development plan was also not progressing smoothly.