Many BJP biggies have not spent a Rs from MPLAD funds in first year

Several ministers of the government have found no reason to spend even a single paisa from their Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund. Parliamentarians from the ruling Benches are not the only ones to be blamed, many noted members from the Opposition <g data-gr-id="50">too</g> share the blame. The Cabinet ministers, who failed to utilise even a single penny from their MPLAD fund include Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Water Resource and Ganga River Rejuvenation Minister Uma Bharti, Law Minister Sadanand Gowda Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma and prominent MoS Rajyavardhan Rathore and Jayant Sinha. Other ministers like Ram Shankar <g data-gr-id="51">Katheria</g>, Maneka Gandhi and Harsh Vardhan have just opened their account. Vardhan has spent just Rs 5 lakh. On the other hand, some of the ally partners such as Ramvilas Paswan of LJP and Harsimrat Kaur of SAD have spent substantially.

Among the BJP leaders, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh tops the list with spending Rs 1.91 crore on development works in his constituency. “Rs 1.41 crore has been sanctioned for building toilets in high schools as well as intermediate schools of the area, while Rs 50 lakh has been sanctioned for developing Yatri Suvidha Kendra at railway halts in the area,” the agriculture minister told Millennium Post. Singh has also recommended expenditure of Rs 5.15 crore for developing <g data-gr-id="52">most</g> backward village and SC villages of all 206 Panchayats of his constituency — Motihari.

From the opposition side, parliamentarians like the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav have not opened their MPLAD coffers. Out of the five MPs of SP, only Mainpuri MP Tej Pratap Singh Yadav has utilized its MPLAD fund by spending about Rs 66 lakh out of his Rs 5 crore allotted amount. Rahul Gandhi has taken a lead over PM Modi by spending about Rs 1.80 crore against Rs 40 lakh spent by Modi from his MPLAD fund of Rs 5 crore. It’s worth mentioning that total fund allotted to all MPs is Rs 1,757.50 <g data-gr-id="49">crore,</g> while spent amount is just Rs 281.50 crore.

Under MPLAD, MPs are given the choice of suggesting to the district collector of a nodal district in their parliamentary constituency; development works worth Rs 5 crore per annum. The objective of the scheme is to create durable community assets based on locally felt needs, including those that strengthen drinking water facilities, primary education, public health, sanitation and roads.