New Delhi, Jan 10:  The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval to continuation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) till the term of the 14th Finance Commission i.e. March 31, 2020.

The Scheme would entail an annual allocation of Rs. 3,950 crore and a total outlay of Rs. 11,850 crores over the next three years with an additional annual allocation of Rs. 5 crore per year for monitoring through independent agencies  and for capacity building, training to State, District officials to be imparted by the Ministry.

The MPLADS funds are released to the nodal District Authorities on receipt of requisite documents and as per provisions of Guidelines on MPLADS.

The government with the move estimates that the entire population across the country could benefit through creation of durable assets of locally felt needs, namely drinking water, education, public health, sanitation and roads etc., under MPLAD Scheme.

The MPLAD Scheme is an ongoing Central Sector Scheme which was launched in 1993-94. Since the inception of the Scheme till August, 2017, a total number of 18,82,180 works for Rs. 44,929.17 crore have been sanctioned from MPLADS fund.

The Scheme enables the Members of Parliament to recommend works for creation of durable community assets based on locally felt needs to be taken up in their constituencies in the area of national priorities namely drinking water, education, public health, sanitation, roads etc. The Scheme is governed by a set of guidelines, which have been last revised in June, 2016