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.
