The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is pushing for a hike in the quantum of funds given to members of Parliament under the Local Area Development scheme to Rs 5 crore a year from Rs 2 crore now. This will increase the annual expenditure on the scheme to about Rs 4,000 crore from Rs 1,580 crore a year now. According to government officials,the Rs 2-crore extended to MPs every year is seen as inadequate and does not lead to any meaningful impact on ground. A Parliamentary committee had recommended that the amount should be hiked to Rs 10 crore. We will move a proposal soon to increase the corpus, Sriprakash Jaiswal,Minister of State with independent charge for Statistics and Programme Implementation told 'The Indian Express'. The Lok Sabha Committee on MPLADs that submitted its report in December 2008 also recommended dropping MP from the schemes nomenclature and instead simply call it the Scheme for Local Area Development. This was largely to ward off criticism that MPs were diverting funds for personal gains. In fact,on December 20,2005,after a sting operation exposed several MPs demanding bribes for undertaking developmental work in their area under the scheme,then Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had proposed scrapping of the MPLAD scheme. Many other members too said the scheme may be abolished,but the Congress and the BJP had distanced themselves from such demands. To check if the funds under the scheme were used properly,the Ministry had asked Nabard Consulting Services to audit about 100 constituencies in two batches. It undertook physical verification of the projects recommended by the MPs. Surprisingly,the reports were not adverse, said a Ministry official. What had held back the Ministry so far is a number of public interest litigations filed in courts alleging that the MPLAD scheme was unconstitutional. These PILs followed the report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission chaired by M Veerappa Moily that recommended abolition of the MPLAD and MLALAD schemes. It said these schemes seriously erode the notion of separation of powers,as the legislator directly becomes the executive. The Supreme Court later ordered bunching of the PILs to be heard by its Constitutional Bench. The hearings were complete ahead of general elections. A judgement is awaited now, said an official in the Ministry. The Ministry is of the view that the Planning Commission can go ahead and appraise its proposal to hike the corpus of the MPLAD scheme. This will expedite its implementation if the apex court rules in favour of the scheme. If it says the schemes are unconstitutional,then of course,both the MPLAD and the MLALAD schemes would need to be scrapped,the official said.
