A day after the Union Cabinet decided to reinstate the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), the Rajya Sabha’s panel on the programme has decided to examine why the Centre put it on hold for two years. The panel, headed by Deputy Chairman of Upper House Harivansh will also study the status of pending instalments and funds for the programme since 2019-20.
The scheme was not operational for two years (2020-21 and 2021-22) as the Centre decided to stop it in the wake of Covid-19. Many MPs had complained to the Centre and to Chairman Venkaiah Naidu against the decision. “The Centre had not told Parliament the reasons why it stopped the scheme. Millions of people got the benefit of the scheme in the form of hospital buildings, school rooms, anganwadis and roads and other infrastructure. It was stopped for no reason,” a member on the panel claimed.
‘Pending amount’
The panel will interact with officials of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation on the issue. The increase in pending amount for approved projects is also worrying MPs. The Ministry had informed the panel in December that it had held consultations with the Finance Ministry to find out possible ways out to mitigate the strain on MPLAD Scheme. Later the Department of Expenditure allotted ₹2,200 crore in March for pending instalments. “In many cases of Rajya Sabha MPs, both the instalments of 2019-20 are pending,” a member added.
‘Development work hit’
According to him, Nodal District Authorities had been requested by the Ministry to submit documents for the release of first instalment of 2019-20 by June 15 followed by documents for the release of second instalment of 2019-20 by September 15.
“But such delays impacted the development activities in many constituencies. Even the much publicised model village scheme suffered by this,” according to another member.
Later, the Finance Ministry released ₹1,107.5 crore in 443 instalments in which 360 instalments were given to sitting MPs 83 to former MPs. The Ministry recently released 147 instalments with a total of ₹367.5 crore which were pending up to March 31, 2020. “However, allocation of funds is still awaited,” the member added.