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The ‘model’ village adopted by the Prime Minister may be attracting media attention, but several MPs, cutting across party lines, have time and again voiced their difficulties in getting funds to get work done in their adopted villages.
Now, the Committees of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) are likely to look into problems being faced by MPs in running the Adarsh Gram Yojana, a pet scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. MPs, cutting across political affiliations, demanded during the recently concluded Budget session of Parliament that the scheme be clearly defined.
Reports on corporate financing for various schemes in Modi’s model village, Jayapur, have further agitated MPs.
“There is no clarity on how the spending should be done. Neither the State government nor the Centre has given any clear guidelines on using MPLADS for the purpose. We will take up the issue in the MPLADS panel,” said Rajya Sabha MP TN Seema, also a member in the panel headed by Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien.
In the Lok Sabha, the MPLADS committee is chaired by Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai. The MPs want the panels to give a strict direction to the government on running the scheme.
Seema said it is easier for the Prime Minister or a powerful Cabinet member to route corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to their adopted villages. “But, we are finding it difficult to source funds for the scheme,” she added.
Last week, the matter was raised in the Lok Sabha by Attingal (Kerala) MP, A Sampath.
“We have adopted a village, but we do not have the funds. The MPLAD fund has not been increased and there is no separate fund for SAGY. The people are coming to us. They have dreams. What can we do if their dreams are shattered?” he said, adding “we are not begging for CSR, but it is to fulfil the promises that we have made to the people. We are bound by that because the Prime Minister has declared that scheme,” he said, amid thumping of desks, even by some ruling party MPs.
The MPs have demanded coordinated efforts between government agencies, departments and public sector units.
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