MPLADS fund: 14 MPs from Assam get the highest share, shows data

Only Rs 4,307.5 crore of the Rs 6,216 crore entitled to parliamentarians were disbursed

Nearly a third of the entitled amount under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) remained undisbursed in the first four years of the tenure of the current Lok Sabha.

This was revealed by Minister of State (Indepe­ndent Charge) for Statistics and Programme Impleme­ntation Rao Inderjit Singh in Parliament last week. Accor­ding to a Business Standard analysis of close to 500 parliamentarians from 21 states and Union Territories, only Rs 4,307.5 crore of the Rs 6,216 crore entitled to them was disbursed during the period.

Under the scheme, elected and nominated members of both Houses receive Rs 5 crore annually to recommend works of developmental nature, particularly to create durable community assets in their constituencies.

The scheme was paused between April 2020 and November 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, placing Rs 6,320 crore at the finance ministry’s disposal to manage the health and the adverse impacts of the pandemic. The scheme was restored in Nove­mber 2021. MPs get Rs 2 crore in one instalment and Rs 5 crore per annum for the period between financial year (2022-23) to FY26 in two instalments of Rs 2.5 crore each. Hence, every MP was entitled to Rs 12 crore in the past four years.

Among the better-performing major states, 14 MPs from Assam have been able to get the highest share (86.6 per cent) of the entitled amount, as they got Rs 111 crore of Rs 145 crore. This was follow­ed by Chhattisgarh (84.8 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (83.2 per cent), Jharkhand (75 per cent) and Odisha (72.4 per cent).

Meanwhile, developmental works worth Rs 4,811 crore were recommended by MPs in the same period, with members from Uttar Pradesh leading the chart (Rs 688.5 crore), followed by Maharashtra (Rs 456 crore) and West Bengal (Rs 369 crore). While the role of MPs is limited to recommending projects, the district authority is responsible to sanction funds and execute and complete the work within the stipulated period. On the other hand, Lok Sabha members from Delhi got the least share of their entitled amo­unt (54.2 per cent) in the same period, followed by Telangana (58.8 per cent), Kerala (59.4 per cent), and Andhra Pradesh (60.8 per cent).

“The funds allocated un­der the scheme are non-lap­sable both at the district and at the central level. Thus, any unspent fund at the district level can be carried forward for utilisation in the subsequ­ent years,” said an official fam­iliar with the development. 

The official said: “Usually, the pace of disbursement and project recommendation picks up as the tenure of the house draws near and usually all amount is released.”

Barring Delhi, Union Territories and states like Arunachal, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim haven’t been considered for this analysis.