Public works, especially in rural areas, is often accused of being riddled with corruption. It is no different in Haryana. This is seen in the rising number of complaints on CM Window, the state’s grievance redressal portal, and countless RTI applications filed against siphoning of funds by Panchayats, poor quality of infrastructure in villages and manipulation of records by officers.

The objective

Effective monitoring and accountability are the most challenging yet indispensable aspects of successful public work projects. The Haryana government was seeking to turn the state into a model state for fiscal management. This would require maintaining and preserving detailed records of the government’s expenditure at the most fundamental level, the village—in real time and in a publicly accessible manner. Manish Jaiswal, CMGGA Bhiwani, and I were asked to work on a monitoring system in the state’s Development and Panchayati Raj Department.

Diving into the problem

Over the course of a month, we (the Associates), conducted extensive primary and secondary research. We gathered data to understand the nature and magnitude of the problem. We interviewed government officials ranging from those at the apex to those on the field, documenting their insights, challenges and apprehensions. We visited construction sites to witness the quality of material used. We also conducted discussions with the Panchayat and the villagers. Cashbooks older than five years were difficult to access,

as they were apparently either misplaced or destroyed. There was always a time lag between the withdrawal of funds and the update in the records. There was no mechanism to check the status of a construction activity vis-à-vis the money spent. The same road and the same drainage were being constructed again and again, drawing funds from different schemes. The entire process was manual, offline and extremely cumbersome.

Working towards a solution

We were introduced to two software applications - the Panchayat Enterprise Suite (PES) and the Village Integrated Monitoring System (VIMS). We understood the nuances of such a system by speaking to the technical officers who designed and piloted them, and the administrative officers who were meant to use them.

VIMS (developed locally by National Informatics Centre, Karnal), was easy to use and tracked the live status of funds. It required a one-time entry into an automated process. Its biggest drawback, however, was that it was not linked to the treasury, and couldn’t track end to end transactions. On the other hand, the PES (developed by the Union Government) was linked to the treasury. It required the Panchayat to upload its Development Plan online in the public domain. Citizens could suggest changes or propose new projects in their village. Each project would be geo-mapped and each transaction visible on the portal. However, PES had 11 modules with multiple data entry points, making it tedious for the Panchayat to use.

Our assessment of both systems was presented to the CM and senior officials from the department. Despite its high utility, there was much skepticism regarding the implementation of PES, as it would require commitment and training. An officer described it as “an elephant impossible to move, let alone ride”. After much discussion, a consensus was reached. The state would concentrate on implementing three of the 11 modules—uploading village development plans, listing actionable components of the plan, and mapping financial transactions against every project.

Pilot in Yamunanagar District

An IT lab was set up at the district headquarters. Data from more than 30 Panchayats was uploaded daily. Meetings were held with banks and political representatives in order to align them with this vision. Withdrawals by Panchayats was stopped unless the data was uploaded. This initially caused a hue and cry in the district, but was ultimately a success. Within five months of implementation it was decided that the pilot would be scaled up to the entire state.

The challenges encountered and surmounted

The Sarpanches felt stifled and the lower level officials overloaded with work. They marched to Chandigarh to meet with the CM. While some demands were dismissed, others were accommodated, and the implementation timelines were relaxed. Today, the department has taken complete ownership of PES. The Government of India has appreciated Haryana’s efforts and is accommodating the feedback.