MP local area development unspent corpus grows

NEW DELHI: The government is seemingly growing worried with slow pace of the works being done under the MP local area development (MPLAD) fund, with substantial corpus remaining unsent even while the 16th Lok Sabha is currently in its final year.

Data show that the Centre is yet to release nearly half of the MPLAD funds for the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for all the states put together in 2017-18. "Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Rajasthan, Odisha, Gujarat, and Jharkhand has more than 100 pending instalments (yet to be released to the states from the Centre) which is a cause for concern," grimly notes the agenda for the review meeting called by the Union Minister Sadanand Gowda.

Incidentally, while all the states put together has a net entitlement of Rs 2725 crores in the case of the Lok Sabha MPs for executing works in their respective Parliamentary constituencies, the Centre has so far been able to release only Rs 1412.50 crores.

Similarly, the Centre has been able to release a total of Rs 594 crores against the total entitlements of Rs 1225 crores of all the states put together in the case of the Rajya Sabha MPs. With the Lok Sabha elections coming close, the ruling NDA at the Centre is growing wary of the backlash against sitting MPs who aren't able to complete works sanctioned in their respective Parliamentary constituencies.

The government has grimly noted that against the norms of closing the works within 18 months of an MP demitting offices there are 204 accounts which have not yet been closed for the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-09), while 318 accounts still await closure for the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-14).

"All the works under the MPLAD sanctioned for the 14th Lok Sabha should have been completed by 2011, while the same for the 15th Lok Sabha by 2016. But the district administrations are seemingly going at a snail's pace to complete the MPLAD works," said a senior official.

The Centre, incidentally, reasons that almost half the funds under the MPLAD have not been released to the various states on account of non-utilisation of funds released earlier. The officials also noted that the district administrations have not been completing the mandatory audit works, which further delay the release of MPLAD funds by the Central government.

Status of MPLAD since inception ​