MPs want fund doubled, Shourie demurs

It has informed the Prime Minister’s Office about instances of misuse and the huge corpus of unutilized funds. While the Government has released Rs 4,702 crore since the scheme was launched in 1993 by the Rao Government, Rs 1,600 crore is presently lying unutilized in various banks.

Minister for Planning and Programme Implementation Arun Shourie has now requested the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to conduct a fresh audit into the MPLADS and also asked the Programe Evaluation Organisation (PEO) of the Planning Commission to conduct a sample survey in 57 Lok Sabha constituencies and 29 districts chosen by Rajya Sabha MPs.

Shourie told The Indian Express that he had already conveyed his views on the glitches in the scheme to the Prime Minister. "Several MPs have urged that the allowance be doubled to Rs 4 crore annually. I have given my views on this issue to the Prime Minister. The final decision will be taken by him."

The demand for doubling the allowances comes at a time when several MPs have complained about non-implementation of projects under MPLADS, and glaring instances of misuse have been exposed.

Acting on one complaint received last month, the Department discovered that a Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh had approved a proposal for purchase of a computer worth Rs 10 lakh for a school he himself owned.

On probing further, the Department learnt that the very same school had got computers worth Rs 19.90 lakh under the MPLADS a few years ago. The District Collector had informed the Department that since the guidelines prohibit any private institutions being funded via the MPLADS, the MP had been sent notices to refund the entire amount.

Despite this, the MP got the second project (worth Rs 10 lakhs) cleared for his school. The Collector now wants advice on whether this money should be disbursed.

Earlier in 1997, the CAG had reported that out of 182 projects cleared under MPLADS, the MPs themselves recommended the names of the contractors who eventually did the work. Implying foul play, the CAG had noticed that ‘percentage charges’ amounting to Rs 3.90 crore had been debited from the contracts at rates ranging from one to 24 per cent. Moreover, norms were violated in quite a few cases: 64 religious places were constructed involving an amount of Rs 58.75 lakh. Another Rs 17.02 crore was sanctioned in utter disregard of guidelines.

But a new twist has been added to the controversy with the present dispensation taking the view that the huge unutilized funds were also a drain on the national exchequer. The unutilized funds have swelled from Rs 1,039.10 crore in 1997 to the present figure of Rs 1,600 crore. And while Rs 4187.51 crore has been sanctioned for MPLADS since the scheme began, expenditure reports show that only Rs 3,095.7 crore has been utilized, i.e. 65 percent of what has been sanctioned.

In the meantime, MPs themselves have a litany of complaints against the MPLADS. A bunch of 12 written complaints received by the Department gives an idea of what else ails the scheme. Among the complainants is Union Telecommunications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan asking for a much-delayed bridge in Bihar; Mohammad Azam Khan demanding that an electric crematorium be immediately built and Sudip Bandopadhyay alleging that authorities were ‘deliberately stalling’ installation of computers in his constituency.