Environment

In line of fire

Legislators' prize scheme

DTE Staff
a recent
(sc)
(mplads).
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(pil)
mplads
mp
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mplads
(lss)
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Wrong trend
WRONG TREND
MPLADS-triggered fund for MLAs
State Number
of MLAs
Entitlement
per MLA*
Delhi 70 200
Jharkhand 81 200
Punjab 117 125
Uttar Pradesh 403 100
Uttaranchal 70 100
Tamil Nadu 234 82
Maharashtra 288 80
Rajasthan 200 60
Orissa 147 50
Kerala 140 50
Madhya Pradesh 230 40
Karnataka 224 40
West Bengal 294 25
Himachal Pradesh 68 24
Tripura 60 5
Chhatisgarh 90 As per requirement
*Annual figures — Rs in lakh
source: Complied from information given by the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation
Allegations of corruption, favoritism and under-utilisation of funds have been leveled against mplads since its inception. All official investigations have confirmed these. Experts also say mplads violates the autonomy of panchayati raj institutions (pris). The Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation, the administering authority for mplads, has, in fact, admitted that it is not able to monitor the scheme effectively. "All the 29 subjects listed in the 11th schedule of the Constitution, meant for pris, also fall under the mplads," points out K C Sivramakrisnan, visiting faculty at Centre for Policy Research, a research organisation in New Delhi. But while assets are created under mplads, the burden of their maintenance falls on the cash-starved local bodies.

Legislators themselves are not unanimous in their opinion about mplads. While Sandip Dixit, mp, East Delhi, believes he needs such schemes, especially for re-election, veteran Congress leader, Digvijay Singh, says mplads is misused and doesn't fit into the roles of a legislative member.