The state panchayat and rural development department has called block development officers (BDOs) of "poor performing" 118 blocks across the state in Calcutta to attend a special review meeting on Wednesday in order to boost their performance in implementing government schemes in their respective areas.

The state has 341 blocks.

The district panchayats and rural development officers (DPRDO), in charge of monitoring rural schemes of all 22 districts, were also directed to attend the meeting along with their BDOs.

"After a survey, we have found the performance of 118 blocks in the state in implementing different schemes is comparatively poor. This may be a result of a lackadaisical attitude from the end of the administration or some major issues on the ground that the officials failed to address. That is why we called them physically to plug the gap," said a senior bureaucrat in the department.

The meeting will be held in two halves at the conference hall of Suvanna in Salt Lake to know the reasons behind the administrative lapses and train them to solve problems in implementing projects.

He said the government had a plan to conduct such special meetings and workshops regularly with BDOs and district officials.

A source said the state government wanted a robust performance in implementing developmental schemes in rural belts ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the absence of funds for several schemes by the BJP-led Centre.

"The performance is important as the flow of funds to rural bodies decreased since January 2022 after the Centre froze funds under several schemes. The government wants to showcase its performance instead of deprivation by Delhi," said an official.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee repeatedly flagged the issue of the Centre freezing funds of Rs 1.55 lakh crore under different developmental schemes.

"The state government does not want any further glitch in the flow of funds from the Centre anymore. That is why proper utilisation of funds in time is significant," said an official.

On the other hand, there are some flagship schemes of the state government that were launched to meet the demand in the absence of central funds for schemes like 100 days' jobs, rural roads and dwelling units.

Pathashree is such a scheme that Mamata launched before the rural polls to build and repair 11,500 km of roads across rural Bengal after the Centre stopped sending funds under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

The Mamata government has allotted Rs 3,000 crore in its budget proposals for 2023-24 in the Pathashree scheme.

Mamata also recently announced a scheme Khela Hobe, to give jobs to those who have cards of the 100 days' job scheme as the Centre had frozen funds for it since January 2022.

"In that meeting, the BDOs will also be introduced with such flagship schemes," said an official.

A senior official in a south Bengal district, however, said the state government should understand that BDOs on the ground were busy conducting July 8 rural polls.

"We know that some blocks have performed poorly. But the BDOs were busy with rural polls (on July 8) and many of their offices lack adequate staff as well. The government should increase human resources at the ground level," said an official.