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The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to restore the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). It was suspended last year to use the resources for fighting Covid-19 pandemic.
Under MPLADS MPs can recommend works of developmental nature with emphasis on the creation of durable community assets in the areas of drinking water, primary education, public health, sanitation and roads in their constituencies.
“The scheme has been restored for the remaining part of the financial year 2021-22. The scheme will continue till 2025-26,” Anurag Singh Thakur, Information & Broadcasting Minister said in a press conference here while announcing decisions taken in the Cabinet meeting.
‘From current year’
Non-operation of MPLADS in more than one-and-a-half years resulted in saving up ₹5,000 crore for use in the fight against the pandemic. He said that funds will be released at the rate of ₹2 crore for each MP for the remaining period of FY21-22 in one installment and at the rate of ₹5 crore per annum per MP during FY22-23 to FY25-26 in two installments of ₹2.5 crore each. “For the current fiscal, total outgo will be ₹1,584 crore while for next four years it will be ₹15,833 crore,” he said.
‘Delayed action’
Member in the Rajya Sabha’s MPLADS panel and DMK leader M Shanmugam said the decision is delayed.
“The MPLADS funds were for the development of the society, not for any personal use of MPs. By stopping the funds for two years, the Centre tried to block development. We had condemned the Centre’s move in Parliament and outside,” Shanmugam said.
Senior BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the issue, welcomed the announcement. “The bulk of the amount used to go to healthcare and childcare sectors. In my constituency Cuttack, we opened a Covid care centre using the funds,” he said and urged the Centre to increase the allocation under the scheme.
The annual MPLADS fund entitlement per MP constituency is ₹5 crore, released in two installments of ₹2.5 crore each. The Government conducted a Third-Party Evaluation of the MPLADS works during 2021 in 216 districts across the country. The Evaluation Report recommended continuation of MPLADS.
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