Over Rs 12,000 crore MPLADS funds not utilised since 2004

Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states with unspent funds, followed by Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

 

More than Rs 12,000 crore of funds of the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) have remained unutilised since 2004. As per the scheme, all Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs are entitled to get Rs 5 crore every year for development works in their respective constituencies or states. The money is released in two equal instalments.

According to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, till February 2018, pending instalments of funds under the MPLAD scheme was Rs 2,932 crore out of the released amount of Rs 7,097 crore till 31 July 2018. Of these, 1,796 instalments are from the Lok Sabha, while 1,132 from the Rajya Sabha.

As per the data, the amount of unspent money comes to around Rs 12,000cr after year-wise review of the performance of the MPLAD scheme across the country since 2004.

Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states with unspent funds, followed by Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

About Rs 12,000 crore has remained unutilised since the 14th Lok Sabha was constituted in 2004. States like Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are among the higher side of performance having maximum percentage utilisation of funds over release. The scheme was introduced in 1993.

A review meeting of MPLADS was held recently under the chairmanship of Union Minister of Statistics & Programme Implementation Sadananda Gowda in which the focus was on issues related to the implementation of the scheme with the states so that the Ministry can take steps to address these for further improvements.

The meeting discussed the status of pending instalments, progress on utilisation of the scheme, status of works recommended and progress of sanctioned works in natural calamities areas.

Since April 2014, out of 4,67,144 works recommended by the MPs (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha), 4,11,612 works have been sanctioned and 3,84,260 works have been completed up to 31 July. Since inception, till 31 July, Rs 47,922 crore has been released under the scheme and works of Rs 49,065 crore have been sanctioned by the district authorities. Of the total release since inception, Rs 45604 crore has been utilised.