Fitting Three Works into a Tied Grant at Shivangaon
The Gram Panchayat of Shivangaon has 12,50,000 rupees available under a tied grant for 2024-25. Its standing instruction is to keep 5 per cent of the grant as contingency, and to spend at least one-fifth of the works money on sanitation. Three shelf-of-projects entries are ready: (A) a cement concrete road of 220 metres at 4,200 rupees per metre; (B) a storm-water drain of 180 metres at 1,850 rupees per metre; (C) a school toilet block at 1,45,000 rupees. The village has 640 households, of which 96 are Scheduled Caste and 41 Scheduled Tribe. Ward 3, with 78 households, has had 14 complaints of waterlogging this monsoon because it has no drain. The school has 210 students, 118 of them girls, and one functional toilet for staff. The Gram Sevak must place a proposal before the Gram Sabha that is both within the grant and defensible on equity.
1. Compute the cost of each work, the money available for works after contingency, and the sanitation floor. Then test the possible combinations.
Read the worked answer
Work costs. A = 220 m x 4,200 = 9,24,000 rupees. B = 180 m x 1,850 = 3,33,000 rupees. C = 1,45,000 rupees. Total for all three = 14,02,000 rupees.
Money available for works. Contingency at 5 per cent of 12,50,000 = 62,500 rupees, leaving 11,87,500 rupees for works.
Sanitation floor. One-fifth of the works money = 11,87,500 / 5 = 2,37,500 rupees minimum on sanitation.
Combination test.
- All three: 14,02,000 > 11,87,500, so not possible.
- A + B: 12,57,000 > 11,87,500, so not possible.
- A + C: 10,69,000 fits, but sanitation spend is only 1,45,000, which is below the 2,37,500 floor. Fails the standing instruction.
- B + C: 4,78,000 fits, and sanitation spend is 3,33,000 + 1,45,000 = 4,78,000, comfortably above the floor. Leaves 7,09,500 rupees of works money unspent, which is underspend and must be explained.
Conclusion: B + C is compliant but leaves too much idle. The arithmetic points to a part-road option to use the balance, tested in the next task.
2. Using the balance after the compliant combination, propose a final package within the grant and justify it on equity grounds.
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Step 1 - start from the compliant core. B + C = 3,33,000 + 1,45,000 = 4,78,000 rupees. This already crosses the sanitation floor of 2,37,500.
Step 2 - see how much road the balance buys. Balance = 11,87,500 - 4,78,000 = 7,09,500. At 4,200 per metre, 7,09,500 / 4,200 = 168.9 metres. Take 168 metres: 168 x 4,200 = 7,05,600.
Step 3 - total and check. 4,78,000 + 7,05,600 = 11,83,600 rupees, within 11,87,500, leaving 3,900 rupees as an unspent margin. Per household this is 11,83,600 / 640 = about 1,849 rupees of public works value.
Equity justification. The drain goes to Ward 3, which has 78 households and 14 documented waterlogging complaints and no drain at all, so it addresses a recorded, localised harm. The school toilet serves 210 students, 118 of them girls, against one staff toilet, so it addresses a documented access gap. The 168 metres of road should be placed in the same ward or the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe habitations, so that the works do not concentrate benefits in the dominant hamlet; 137 of 640 households, about 21 per cent, belong to these groups, and the location of the road is the practical lever for that.
Step 4 - record it. Write the combination, the arithmetic, the sanitation certification and the 3,900 rupee margin into the resolution, with a separate on-maintenance line for the toilet and the drain.
3. Ward members demand all three works and suggest starting the road and paying later. How should the Gram Sevak respond?
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Explain that the constraint is legal, not a matter of will. The grant is 12,50,000; the three works cost 14,02,000; the gap is 1,52,000 before contingency. Starting a work without a sanctioned and available provision creates an unauthorised liability that the Panchayat, not the contractor, will be asked to explain in audit. The Gram Sevak should place the combination sheet on the table so the members see the gap themselves rather than hear a refusal.
Offer the workable routes. (1) Take up B + C + 168 metres of road now, as the compliant package. (2) Put the remaining 52 metres of A in the shelf of projects for the next instalment or the untied component, with the estimate already prepared. (3) Ask members whether they would rather trim the road specification, for example a shorter length in cement concrete and the rest in a lower-cost standard, so that all three appear in this year's list.
Do not accept the pay-later suggestion. Instead, record the discussion and the reason for phasing in the minutes, so the demand is seen to have been heard and answered. The Gram Sevak's note to the BDO should attach the combination sheet and the phasing decision; that records the officer as having protected the fund while respecting the house.