~120-billion MPLAD funds lying unused

A little more than ~120 billion in Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) funds have remained unused till the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year, an internal report has stated. Of this, about ~48 billion still remains unspent, while the remaining amount of ~73 billion is yet to be allocated due to backlogs.

ARUP ROYCHOUDHURY writes

Alittle more than ~120 billion in Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) funds have remained unused till the end of the 201718 fiscal year, an internal report has stated. Of this, about ~48 billion, or 10 per cent, still remains unspent, while the remaining amount of ~73 billion is yet to be allocated due to backlogs.

The internal report, whose contents were examined by Business Standard, has been drafted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The report states that the unutilised amount is mainly due to the state and district administrations not following up on them.

Till February 2018, about ~480 billion has been released, of which 10 per cent remains unspent, the report showed. For each Member of Parliament (MP), the annual entitlement under MPLAD is ~50 million and is released in two equal installments of ~25 million each. For a fullterm of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, an MP gets 10 and 12 installments, respectively.

The report showed that there are 2,920 pending installments of ~25 million each, making it about ~73 billion worth of installments that have not been released.

Critical in its assessment, the report stated that the “utilisation of funds in respect of Hon’ble MPs of the 16th Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is very slow in various states. Owing to slow utilisation, releases of installments in respect of many last years are still pending.”

“The state authorities are requested to look into the details of the pending instalments (MP-wise) and direct and facilitate for removing the reasons causing pendency. State authorities should also hold regular meetings with the district authorities having more pendency,” it said.

The report also asks state governments to take up the cases rigorously, where utilisation is not up to the mark, to improve the utilisation of funds. “The states should ensure that funds released in a year are used in the same year so that delay in their release could be curbed. District authorities may be directed to speed up utilisation for keeping releases upto-date,” it said.

Uttar Pradesh tops the list of the biggest laggards, with nearly ~7 billion in unspent funds and 386 pending installments. Maharashtra has ~4 billion in unspent funds and 344 pending installments. The other states, which are lagging behind the most in utilising of MPLAD funds, are Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.