Call for clarity

Some time ago when Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni came forward with the proposal that MPs should be allowed to use their local area development funds MPLAD for the conservation of historical monuments, it was widely hailed as a brilliant idea. Encouraged, she quickly shot off a letter to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation requesting necessary amendments in the guidelines. The department wrote back saying that such a provision already existed8212;the rules prohibited MPs from spending funds on construction and maintenance of religious buildings, but allowed them to use it for conservation of historical monuments. An embarrassed Soni then wrote to the department again saying this provision needed to be mentioned more clearly in the rules.