‘Nearly Rs 4,500 crore under Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram lying unused’

An amount of about Rs 4,500 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) of the Ministry of Minority Affairs is lying “unused” with the states, officials said on Monday. Till the state governments make use of these funds and submit “utilisation certificates”, it is not possible for the Centre to make more funds available to them under the scheme, they said.

The officials also said more than 58,000 “units” under infrastructure projects that were part of the PMJVK sanctioned from 2008 to 2018-2019, which the states said were unviable, have been cancelled or dropped after the Ministry of Minority Affairs spoke to the states.

The officials said an amount of about Rs 12,000 crore was spent for the welfare of minorities under the UPA rule while in nine years of the Narendra Modi government, an amount of Rs 31,000 crore has been spent for the purpose.

The PMJVK, a centrally-sponsored scheme, is an area development programme under which community infrastructure and basic amenities are being created in the identified areas. The infrastructure built up under the scheme is for the benefit of all the people living in an area.

The scheme was restructured and implemented with effect from May 2018 as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK).