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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | MPLADS norms’ revision hits hurdles by Asit Ranjan Mishra

MPLADS norms’ revision hits hurdles by Asit Ranjan Mishra

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published Published on Dec 20, 2010   modified Modified on Dec 20, 2010

State governments as well as Central agencies have opposed a proposal to use money from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) for building community centres under the Union government’s flagship rural jobs guarantee programme.

Officials said managing accounts for such a diversion would be difficult and could lead to the misuse of funds.

A meeting of state government representatives and district collectors, meant to revise MPLADS guidelines to make the scheme more effective, disagreed with the proposal.

“There is no consensus on the proposal as of now,” T.C.A. Anant, India’s chief statistician, said. “Combining the MPLAD fund, which is non-lapsable, with any centrally sponsored scheme will be a problem as funds from state and Central governments are lapsable.”

Under MPLADS, members of Parliament (MPs) are allowed to spend Rs.2 crore a year on development work in their constituencies, with an emphasis on creating durable community assets such as drinking water, primary education, public health, sanitation and roads.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) promises 100 days of work every year to one member of every rural household.

The Union rural development ministry had proposed that the material cost of building community centres under MGNREGS—known as Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras—be sourced from MPLADS funds, while the cost of labour be sourced from MGNREGS.

The Controller General of Accounts also opposed the proposal, saying that accounting for two sources of funds for a single programme would be a problem.

“We could have a stand-alone project under MPLAD. However, convergence with an existing programme has to be dealt with carefully,” said Pankaj Jain, additional secretary at the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.

State governments opposed the idea as they fear such a move would lead to duplication of funding for the same project, leading to misuse of money, said a state government representative who participated in the meeting, requesting anonymity.

MPLADS was started in December 1993. The rural development ministry first issued guidelines that govern it in February 1994. They have been revised from time to time, most recently in November 2005. MPs were initially allotted Rs.5 lakh a year under the scheme, which was later increased to Rs.1 crore and subsequently to Rs.2 crore in 1998-99. Members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha recently demanded that the limit be raised to Rs.5 crore a year, although it is not under consideration.

Prakash Jaiswal, minister for coal and statistics and programme implementation, said around 1.364 million items of work have been recommended, 1.209 million sanctioned and 1.107 million completed under MPLADS. A sum of Rs.22,033 crore has been released and Rs.19,986 crore, or 90.71%, has been utilized since the scheme’s inception.

Jaiswal asked district collectors to prepare project proposals to help MPs select suitable projects for the scheme.


Live Mint, 21 December, 2010, http://www.livemint.com/2010/12/20234843/MPLADS-norms8217-revision-h.html?atype=tp


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