ITDP

The objective of I.T.D.P. was that various plan schemes and services should be integrated at the block level. However, in Maharashtra, the P.O. I.T.D.P. did not have overall powers of supervision and administrative control over the block level machinery of the other departments. Consequently, there was a lacuna in the proper integration of services and of supervision with accountability at the project level. To remove this lacuna, the Government decided in Nov.1993 to strengthen the administration in 11 selected I.T.D.Ps. including Chikhaldara in Amravati District, which has been merged with the Dharni I.T.D.P. and the P.O. office shifted to Pandharkwada in Yavatmal, identified as one of the most vulnerable areas. The P.O. heading these I.T.D.Ps. are now drawn from the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Forest Service, Maharashtra Revenue Service, Maharashtra Development Service or the Maharashtra Forest Service Class-I and have been given the powers of Additional Collectors as well as those of the Executive Officers of the Zilla Parishads. As such, they will have both the regulatory and developmental responsibilities and have been given the necessary powers of sanction and discipline. P.O. has been given full powers to take departmental action, suspend, affect minor punishments, write the C.Rs etc. of all the staff (except the law and order staff) in the project area.

The list of these I.T.D.Ps is given below :-

(p) = part Earlier, the tribals had to approach several agencies for redressal of their grievances in development as also regulatory matters, since several departments working in the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) areas were independent of the I.T.D.P. The State Government has, therefore, introduced a single line administration in the above sensitive I.T.D.P. Blocks by bringing all the officers and staff working in these areas, irrespective of their departments under the administrative control of the Project Officers (P.O.) of the I.T.D.Ps. This will facilitate better co-ordination among all the functionaries operating in the T.S.P areas and will meet the needs of the tribals, who can look to a single agency for getting all their problems attended to. Howevr, in many I.T.D.Ps. officers of the desirable seniority are not available with the result that planning and co-ordination there in adversely affected, which in turn affect effective service delivery to tribals.

An important aspect of this reorganisation is the personnel policy followed by the Government in respect of the tribal areas, The Government has undertaken that only very good officers would be posted to work in the Tribal Development Department as P.O. and that they would be retained there for a reasonably long period (around three years). The Government has also taken a decision to liberalize the scheme of incentives for working in the T.S.P. areas. Accordingly, all staff of State Government, Zilla Parishads and all Primary and Secondary School teachers and non-teaching staff of aided institutions working in the I.T.D.P. areas get an incentive allowance ranging from Rs. 100 to Rs. 500, depending on the basic pay. Besides, 15 % of the basic pay to the extent of minimum Rs.200/- and maximum Rs.1500/- would be paid to the imcumbents having its head quarters in the naxalite affected and most sensitive areas in Tribal Sub-Plan Areas declared by the Government.