MPLAD scheme needs review says a Par panel

The committee says that comments from public, MPs and Govt implementing agencies should be invited , reports Chetan Chauhan/b.

Published on: Dec 7, 2006, 19:59:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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While seeking to increase the fund of the MP Local Area Development Fund (MPLAD) scheme to Rs five crore, a Parliamentary committee on Thursday called for a study to examine the scheme in "totality" and rectify the "pitfalls".

In a report tabled in Parliament, the standing committee said the 'horizontal' study was necessitated to examine all aspects of the scheme in wake of the recent unsavoury incidents related to the scheme reported in media and to strengthen the monitoring process.

"As such the actual benefits of the scheme realised, the deficiencies and the pitfall encountered in the implementation of the scheme and the corrective measures which could be taken for smooth implementation of the scheme has not been addressed by the committee so far," the report said.

The committee said comments from public, MPs and government implementing agencies should be invited so that the objective for which the scheme was conceptualised is achieved.

The need for such examination was also felt following adverse remarks about the scheme in a report of Comptroller and Auditor General, in a study conducted by former MP Era Sezhiyan and that by the Planning Commission.

Sezhiyan, in a study conducted by Institute of social science had said that the scheme runs contrary to Constitutional provisions, which envisage separate roles for the executive, and the legislative and therefore, it should be scrapped. Similar, suggestion was also made by the National Commission to Review Working of the Constitution.

The Planning Commission and CAG had pointed out at the 'mismanagement' of the scheme resulting in inflated reports of the amount spend. Evaluation teams of the commission failed to locate many of the assets claimed to have been created.

Admitting of the failures, the committee absolved the MPs of any wrong doing and instead shifted the entire blame to different government agencies and has sought reasons for the failure. "In opinion of the committee role of MPs was to identify and recommend projects to the district collector. Rest of the work is undertaken by the district collector," the report said.

But, then it also agreed to the suggestion of former Governor Bhanu Prakash Singh that each MP should get Rs five crore each year for his or her constituency. "This is to fulfill the basic requirements of the constituencies in a more effective manner," the report explained.

The committee also examined cases where the MPs sought relaxation of MPLAD scheme guidelines. Sadashivrao Mandlik, MP, wanted to disburse money from his fund to a trust run by his family members. The logic behind such public trusts is formed mainly due to the initiative taken by the MPs to provide useful services to people. The committee rejected the proposal.

Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's request to give money for War Memorial in Chandigarh was also rejected. Deputy Speaker Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal's desire to pay salaries to primary school teachers in Punjab did not find favour with the committee.

Email Chetan Chauhan: chetan @hindustantimes.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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