Delhi MLAs fail to spend area development fund

Open manholes, unrepaired roads and uncovered drains are likely to force you into believing that the government still has to carry out a lot of development work in your area, but that’s not what your local MLA is thinking.

According to your assembly representative, the development work in your area has reached its saturation point and hence a lot of them have shown reluctance in spending money from their Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development (MLALAD) funds.

Documents in possession of Millennium Post show that former Delhi assembly Speaker and Ambedkar Nagar MLA Chaudhary Prem Singh has not used Rs 9.9 crore from the funds allocated to him. Delhi power and industry minister Haroon Yusuf, who represents Ballimaran, has Rs 6.33 crore in his fund.

Arvinder Singh has not spent at least Rs 6.09 crore from his funds. Around Rs 5.85 crore is lying unused with Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal, while Rs 4.42 crore is lying unspent in the MLA fund of Babarpur MLA Naresh Gaur. 

Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra could not use Rs 2.84 crore from his fund.

Clearly, the Delhi government’s decision to increase MLALAD funds from Rs 2 crore to Rs 4 crore in 2012 has not helped because more than 50 per cent of the allocated funds are lying unused. 

Of the Rs 280 crore granted to MLAs for the financial year 2012-13, around Rs 149 crore is lying unspent. With just three months left for the model code of conduct to be enforced by the Election Commission, the MLAs would find it difficult to use the entire money.

However, Delhi PWD minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, urban development minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, Talvinder Singh Marwah, Hari Shanker Gupta, Somesh Shokeen, Rajesh Jain, Surender Kumar, Mohan Singh Bisht, Subhash Sachdeva and Mala Ram Gangwal are among those who have exhausted their funds.