E-Paper
MLAs, MLCs to use LAD funds for private societies: State
PUNE: After MLAs (members of legislative assemblies) were allowed to use local area development (LAD) funds for social, cultural, literary, educational, environmental and sports activities in 2017, the state government is now working on a proposal to allow MLAs and members of legislative councils (MLCs) to use LAD funds for developing basic infrastructure in private societies based in rural and municipal corporation areas
PUNE: After MLAs (members of legislative assemblies) were allowed to use local area development (LAD) funds for social, cultural, literary, educational, environmental and sports activities in 2017, the state government is now working on a proposal to allow MLAs and members of legislative councils (MLCs) to use LAD funds for developing basic infrastructure in private societies based in rural and municipal corporation areas. While societies have welcomed the move, they have warned against politicisation of the same.
The state on Monday constituted a planning committee to frame the guidelines and scope of work in private societies. The committee includes the deputy secretary of the planning department, Mumbai and Pune; assistant/deputy municipal commissioner of the Thane municipal corporation; deputy registrar of Thane; deputy commissioner of Konkan, Nashik and Nagpur divisions; district planning officer of Pune, Thane and Mumbai city; chief executive officer of Shahapur, Baramati and Ambernath; joint director of the planning department of the state; and deputy commissioner of the municipal council department of the Konkan division. An order was issued by Debashish Chakraborty, upper secretary of the state planning department, giving a two-month deadline for submission of the report to the government after which the state will take the final decision. This might help the state government ahead of elections in 10 municipal corporations including the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), municipal councils, and 25 zilla parishads.
About the development, Chetan Tupe, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA of the Hadapsar assembly constituency, said, “It is a good decision and is needed to tackle the problems of rapid urbanisation in the city and fringe areas. Most of the middle class lives in societies and they are regular and honest taxpayers and MLAs’ LAD funds are nothing but taxpayers’ money. Till date, there were limitations in terms of using funds in private societies but the Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) government has now decided to use them. Over the last few years, new societies have developed a mechanism to use maintenance charges for the development of the society. However, old societies do not have the financial support to generate funds for development so this decision will help them a lot. We should have new provisions or amendments in old laws or rules for the welfare of the public.”
Sunil Tingre, MLA of the Wadgaonsheri constituency, said, “This will help provide better infrastructure to societies including light, internal roads, drainage and water supply. It is the basic things that people want from the government or the local administration. Our funds will be utilised for a good cause. At present, we have limited scope as regards usage of funds and this is true for most local corporators and MLAs. Typically, the funds are used in slum areas or localities not covered under private societies which is unfair to societies.”
Suhas Patwardhan, chairman of the Pune District Cooperative Federation, said, “There are around 11,000 housing societies in the Pune city area. The decision is good if the intention is to use MLA funds for the development of societies. However, there should be no politicisation and political agenda. There are old societies which really need help to develop basic infrastructure. Again, these funds cannot be used for things like benches, name plates and garbage bins. They should be put to productive use based on the society’s needs rather than the MLA’s whims. After all, it is public money and should not be wasted on fancy, unproductive things, which is being witnessed at the corporation level.”
Back in September 2017, the state decided to allow MLAs to use LAD funds for social, cultural, literary, educational, environmental, and sports activities with prior approval of the government (state finance minister). Thereafter, a total 288 MLAs got the opportunity to use LAD funds for works other than development. While MLAs can spend Rs20 lakh in a year for cultural and social events organised by NGOs, they cannot spend more than Rs5 lakh on each activity. The LAD funds enable each MLA to undertake small developmental works in their constituencies through an allocation of Rs2 crore per year. The works are on a micro scale and fall within the jurisdiction of the MLA’s constituency, and typically include works that may have been overlooked by the local administration in its annual budget. After submission of the proposal by the MLA, the district authority is mandated to implement the same within three months of acceptance of the proposal. The objective of the LAD funds is to strengthen the local community infrastructure, including roads, school buildings, drinking water, public health, sanitation, electricity, health and family welfare, irrigation and so on.
