Opposition MLAs want local area development fund, Khattar says no

The opposition also alleged that the Rs 5 crore grant available to each of them is not reaching them on time and even after several reminders to the government officials they have yet not been able to get the entire amount.

“Are Haryana MLAs cursed? Why can’t we get such MLALAD funds when it is available in many other states,” asked Varun Chaudhary in the House.

However, CM Khattar said, “State government has no plan to make provision for MLALAD fund on the lines of MPLAD scheme. The objective of MLA is to get development work done in their constituency under any scheme of the government”.

Panchayat minister Devender Babli started quoting figures of funds available to the MLAs under the Vidhayak Adarsh Gram Yojana. He requested the MLAs to prepare and send estimates of development works under the VAGY for their respective constituencies so that the works could be started at the earliest.

“On basis of population of the villages selected by the MLAs, an amount of up to Rs 2 crore is provided to each constituency under the VAGY. It is a state sponsored scheme implemented on July 6, 2015 on the lines of Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Under this scheme, initially the MLAs were allowed to adopt villages with a population of 3,000 to 7,000 in the plain areas and 1,000 to 3,000 in the hilly area of their constituency for development through participation.

In the budget session of the year 2016, an amount of Rs 1 crore was announced to be given to each MLA for this purpose. From the year 2016-17 to 2018-19, Rs. 90.67 crore were released for 957 development works of the adopted villages. From December 26, 2018, an amount of up to Rs 2 crores are provided to each constituency”.

“This scheme was stopped after a decision was taken in an all-party meeting on April 8, 2020 during the lockdown to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Now this scheme will be resumed. In case of a complete urban assembly constituency, MLA can choose the development works of any village in the nearby rural constituency,” Babli said.

Dissatisfied with the minister’s reply, Varun said that the government was deviating the topic towards VAGY, “while I am raising the issue of MLALAD funds”.

Speaking on the issue, said, “The state government had given Rs 5 crore each to the MLAs for the development work in their constituencies in the years 2014 and 2019. There are 67 assembly constituencies where an amount of about Rs 4 crore to Rs 6 crore has been allocated to each constituency.”