New Delhi: To ramp up infrastructure along the China order, the Ministry of Home Affairs has allocated 10 % funds of a centrally sponsored scheme only on border projects along Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.
A sum of Rs 784 crore has been allocated to the Border Area Development Project (BADP) in 2020-21 fiscal to develop the infrastructure along the India-China border. In 2018-19, 770.62 crore was granted for the scheme and an amount of Rs 825 crore in the subsequent financial year.
“We allocate funds after getting a utilization certificate from the concerned state government,” said a senior Home Ministry official.
The money for this fiscal has already been distributed to the border States and Union Territories (UTs) depending on various criteria such as the length of the international border and population.
"Projects for developing infrastructure in strategically important villages and towns (as identified by Border Guarding Forces) will be given priority," said the official.
Around Rs 78.4 crore has been specially allocated for projects in areas inhabited along the 3,488 km China border.
According to the new guidelines of BADP, 10% of the total allocated funds will be kept reserved under the programme and will be utilized for incentives for better performing State and UTs.
The main objective of the BADP is to meet the special developmental needs and well-being of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the International Boundary (IB) and to provide the border areas with essential infrastructure by convergence of BADS in six thematic areas - Basic Infrastructure, Health Infrastructure, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development.
Presently, the programme covers 396 Blocks of 111 border Districts in 16 States and 2 Union Territories abutting the international boundary of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir (UT), Ladakh (UT), Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
The programme will cover all the census villages, towns, semi-urban and urban areas located within 0-10 Km distance from the first habitation from IB.
However, the scheme has a specific funding pattern (like other core centrally sponsored schemes), for the eight North Eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim) & 2 Himalayan States (Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) will be in the ratio 90:10 (Centre Share: State Share) and in respect of remaining six border States (Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) will be in the ratio 60:40 (Centre Share: State Share). For UT of Jammu and Kashmir the funding pattern will be in the ratio 90:10 (Centre Share: UT Share) and for UT of Ladakh (UT without Legislature) Centre Share will be 100 percent.
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