Share of unspent funds under MPLAD doubled during 17th Lok Sabha

This exponential rise in the share of unspent money is despite the fact that the scheme remained suspended for nearly 18 months during Covid

Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 have not utilised funds allocated to them by the government under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme as effectively as their predecessors.

For instance, the share of unspent money under the MPLAD scheme at the end of the tenure of the current Lok Sabha nearly doubled to 16 per cent compared to 8.7 per cent in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19). Till April 2024, ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) data shows that out of the total amount of Rs 5,185 crore available with the