New Delhi: Opposition parties came down heavily Monday on the government over its decision to suspend Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds for two years. They said it undermines the role of MPs, who will ‘lose their voice’ and an instrument to manage distress at the micro level.
Criticising the government for the action, leaders cutting across party lines demanded a review of the decision stating that development works in the country would suffer.
The Congress, Left parties, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and some others were in the forefront of this attack on the government, which is set to garner around Rs 7,900 crore through the decision.
The MPLADS was formulated in December 1993 and enables the MPs to recommend developmental work in their constituencies.
Under the scheme, each MP has the choice to suggest to the district collector developmental works of Rs 5 crore per year in his/her constituency. Initially, this scheme was administered by Ministry of Rural Development but in October 1994 the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation started monitoring it.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said MPLADS fund is not the ‘personal fund’ of MPs. This money is for natural calamities and for fighting against diseases like COVID-19 at the local level at the discretion of the MPs, he said.
“If this money is finished, then this will have a direct negative impact on the people of the MP’s area and people of the country will lose out. If the country’s MPs lose their voice, then how will the Parliament function effectively. Hence, this needs to be restored,” Surjewala asserted.
“Dear PM, INC supports the salary cut for MP’s! Please note that MPLAD is meant to execute developmental works in the constituency. Suspending it is a huge disservice to the constituents and will undermine the role and functions of MP,” Surjewala tweeted later in the day.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, however, went against the party line. He said, “I welcome the decision on MPLADS. I have been arguing for long that the approximately Rs 7,000 crore given to MPs & MLAs annually for development works should be used as a corpus for State funding of elections.”
The TMC said the government decision was ‘arbitrary and whimsical’ as it has enough money to tackle COVID-19.
The Union Cabinet and Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the decision without consulting all the parties, senior TMC leader and MP Sougata Roy said.
“The decision to temporarily suspend the MPLAD is arbitrary and whimsical. We are opposing it,” Roy, a veteran parliamentarian, said.
Congress leaders Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor urged the prime minister to reconsider the decision. Tewari said this seems to be a knee-jerk reaction.
“Suspension of MPLADS is a bit of an overstretch. At this time of grave humanitarian distress that will get only worse in the months ahead. MPLADS is a targeted and nimble instrument to customise micro level interventions to alleviate distress. It is something that is required,” Tewari said.
Shashi Tharoor in a letter to PM expressed concern. “As I am sure you will agree, by design, the MPLADS has traditionally been utilised to address and remedy gaps in our governance initiatives that may have been overlooked by the state and central government in their announcements of major development projects,” Tharoor wrote.
“By removing the resources at their (MPs) disposal to make critical interventions and bringing them under the ambit of the Consolidated Fund of India, it would centralise the allocation of funds, in turn, potentially leading to significant delays in the devolution of funds. MPLADS preserved the sense of direct responsibility for the well-being of constituents that is a hallmark of an Indian MPs work,” Tharoor added.
PTI