'The pace of disbursement and project recommendation picks up as the tenure of the House draws near and usually all amount is released.'
Nearly a third of the entitled amount under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) remained undisbursed in the first four years of the tenure of the current Lok Sabha.
This was revealed by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Statistics and Programme Implementation Rao Inderjit Singh in Parliament during the Monsoon session.
According to a Business Standard analysis of close to 500 parliamentarians from 21 states and Union Territories, only Rs 4,307.5 crore (Rs 43.07 billion) of the Rs 6,216 crore (Rs 62.16 billion) entitled to them was disbursed during the period.
Under the scheme, elected and nominated members of both Houses receive Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) annually to recommend works of developmental nature, particularly to create durable community assets in their constituencies.
The scheme was paused between April 2020 and November 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, placing Rs 6,320 crore (Rs 63.20 billion) at the finance ministry's disposal to manage the health and the adverse impacts of the pandemic. The scheme was restored in November 2021.
MPs get Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) in one instalment and Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) per annum for the period between financial year (2022-2023) to FY26 in two instalments of Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) each.
Hence, every MP was entitled to Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million) in the past four years.
Among the better-performing major states, 14 MPs from Assam have been able to get the highest share (86.6 per cent) of the entitled amount, as they got Rs 111 crore (Rs 1.11 billio) of Rs 145 crore (Rs 1.45 billion).
This was followed by Chhattisgarh (84.8 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (83.2 per cent), Jharkhand (75 per cent) and Odisha (72.4 per cent).
Meanwhile, developmental works worth Rs 4,811 crore (Rs 48.11 billion) were recommended by MPs in the same period, with members from Uttar Pradesh leading the chart (Rs 688.5 crore/Rs 6.88 billion), followed by Maharashtra (Rs 456 crore/Rs 4.56 billion) and West Bengal (Rs 369 crore/Rs 3.69 billion).
While the role of MPs is limited to recommending projects, the district authority is responsible to sanction funds and execute and complete the work within the stipulated period.
On the other hand, Lok Sabha members from Delhi got the least share of their entitled amount (54.2 per cent) in the same period, followed by Telangana (58.8 per cent), Kerala (59.4 per cent), and Andhra Pradesh (60.8 per cent).
"The funds allocated under the scheme are non-lapsable both at the district and at the central level. Thus, any unspent fund at the district level can be carried forward for utilisation in the subsequent years," said an official familiar with the development.
"Usually, the pace of disbursement and project recommendation picks up as the tenure of the House draws near and usually all amount is released," the official added.
Barring Delhi, Union Territories and states like Arunachal, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim haven't been considered for this analysis.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
