NEW DELHI:Â Nearly 20 months after the 18th Lok Sabha commenced in May 2024, a performance snapshot of Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme performance of the 42 Lok Sabha MPs from West Bengal as on 6 January presents a picture of wide disparities between proposals on paper and real delivery on the ground.
MPLADS is structured to give every sitting MP an annual allocation of Rs 5 crore to recommend small, constituency-focused development projects. With the parliamentary term now in January 2026, almost two financial years have elapsed, creating a cumulative availability of close to Rs 10 crore for each member. The expectation built into the scheme is straightforward: MPs recommend local works, district authorities sanction them, and funds are spent on public assets that directly benefit communities.
An analysis of data on the work done by these MPs reveals tangible outcomes, and that too which has remained heavily concentrated in a limited subset of members. Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress MP from Diamond Harbour, recommended 320 works and completed 173, the highest absolute number of completions in the state delegation, spending Rs 6.13 crore. Pratima Mondal, her party colleague from Joynagar (SC), recommended 219 works and completed 56, utilizing Rs 6.67 crore. Another TMC MP, Abu Taher Khan from Murshidabad, recommended 310 works and completed 84, spending Rs 2.00 crore. Deepak Adhikari (Dev), Trinamool Congress MP from Ghatal, recommended 182 works and completed 33, utilizing Rs 6.47 crore.
While Asit Kumar Mal, who also represents the Trinamool Congress from Joynagar, recommended 320 works and completed 88, spending Rs 2.60 crore. These handful of MPs form the core cluster of implementers who have managed to unlock funds and push projects toward completion during the first 20 months of the current Lok Sabha. Financial execution is led by Trinamool MP from Bolpur, Asit Kumar Mal. He recommended 189 works and completed 67, yet his actual expenditure of Rs 14.27 crore is the highest among all 42 MPs.
This reflects the ability to push larger-value projects and to ensure that utilization certificates are issued and accepted. His performance underlines a basic fact of the scheme: expenditure is a stronger indicator of development impact than recommendation counts alone. Beyond these exceptions, the picture becomes far more subdued and in many cases plainly poor. Urban constituencies appear slower in completion cycles.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Trinamool Congress MP from Kolkata Uttar, recommended 36 works and completed three, spending Rs 2.25 crore. Mala Roy, Trinamool Congress MP from Kolkata Dakshin, recommended 73 works and completed none, utilizing Rs 2.74 crore. Prof Sougata Ray, Trinamool Congress MP from Dum Dum, recommended 47 works and completed none, spending only Rs 0.67 crore. Dense metropolitan seats therefore show limited tangible outcomes compared with rural constituencies.
Several MPs from both major parties, Trinamool and the BJP, display dozens or even hundreds of recommended projects but only a handful completed. Pathan Yusuf, Trinamool Congress MP from Baharampur, recommended 166 works and completed none, spending only Rs 0.20 crore. Jagannath Sarkar, BJP MP from Ranaghat (SC), recommended 188 works and completed 23, spending Rs 2.32 crore.
Raju Bista, BJP MP from Darjeeling, recommended 157 works and completed 71, utilizing Rs 3.56 crore. Abhijit Gangopadhyay, BJP MP from Tamluk, recommended 155 works and completed 10, spending Rs 1.82 crore. Sukanta Majumdar, BJP MP from Balurghat, recommended 119 works and completed nine, yet spent only Rs 1.40 crore. Similarly, Congress MP Isha Khan Choudhury from Maldaha Dakshin recommended nine works and completed none, utilizing Rs 0.51 crore.
These records show clearly that recommendation activity has not translated into tangible new assets which can be explained by lack of follow-up from the concerned MP. The BJP delegation from West Bengal, 12 in number, exhibits particularly weak financial execution nearly two years into the term. Multiple BJP MP report Rs 0.00 expenditure as of January 2026. Manoj Tigga (Alipurduars), Dr Jayanta Kumar Roy (Jalpaiguri SC), Khagen Murmu (Maldaha Uttar), Jyotirmay Singh Mahato (Purulia), Kartick Chandra Paul (Raiganj), and others show either zero completions or absolutely no spending despite having recommended dozens of works.
Kartick Chandra Paul from Raiganj seat remains the most striking BJP failure case: 204 works recommended, zero completed, and Rs 0.00 expenditure. That record shows total ineffectiveness by any MPLADS indicator. The table also records the performance of MPs who are currently Union Ministers or well-known public figures. Shantanu Thakur, BJP MP from Bangaon (SC) and presently a Union Minister in the central government, recommended only eight MPLADS works and completed all eight, giving a 100 percent completion record. Yet his total expenditure remains only Rs 0.60 crore, indicating that even with efficiency he has not attempted to deploy MPLADS at meaningful scale in his constituency.
Sukanta Majumdar, BJP MP and also a minister, recommended 119 works and spent only Rs 0.40 crore, showing minimal utilization despite high proposal volume. Celebrity TMC MPs such as Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol and June Maliah from Medinipur show modest records, with recommendations remaining largely uncompleted.
The most troubling pattern in the dataset is the clear absence of correlation between high recommendations and actual expenditure. Many MPs recommended dozens or hundreds of projects, yet only a handful reached sanction or completion. The MPLADS framework gives MPs the authority to recommend works, while district authorities handle sanction and execution. Yet the role of a member does not end with forwarding proposals.
The scheme explicitly permits MPs to conduct inspections, monitor progress, revise or replace stalled projects, convene review meetings with implementing agencies, and escalate procedural delays to higher levels of government. Release of funds is tied to utilization certificates, which normally requires sustained engagement by the MP’s office. Therefore, a record showing high recommendation counts with near-zero expenditure cannot be explained solely as administrative failure.
By scheme design, effective use of MPLADS depends on follow through and oversight, not on recommendation letters alone. Taken as a whole, the arithmetic message is unambiguous. Nearly 30 months into the 18th Lok Sabha, MPLADS delivery by West Bengal MPs remains highly uneven. A small number of implementers from the Trinamool Congress have recommended hundreds of works and managed to unlock funds. The majority of MPs across parties show either very low spending, large execution gaps, or complete inertia. Recommendation enthusiasm without sanctions has produced few tangible new assets, leaving large portions of constituency development money effectively locked.
