New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said it would take stringent action to prevent flow of Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds to ineligible NGOs, trusts or societies.
"Now, we are going to take more stringent step in these cases," Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Kumar Jena replied when asked about cases where MPLAD funds can flow to unregistered NGOs, trusts and societies.
Assuring that government is taking necessary steps, Jena said, "We are directing the District Collectors to monitor it properly. The credentials of such societies will be verified and cross checked by the district magistrates."
When asked about removal of word `registered` while referring to such bodies in the MPLAD guidelines, he explained, "any society means registered and that goes without saying."
Under the existing guidelines, an MP can allocate up to Rs 1 crore to such bodies in a year. Earlier, the amount was Rs 50 lakh when an MP was provided Rs 2 crore in a year for such development works.
The minister further said that Rs 1 crore for such bodies as proportion of the total amount of Rs 5 crore available to an MP is much less than the earlier provision.
He said there is around Rs 3,000 crore lying unused in the MPLAD funds that is likely to be exhausted in next 1 year.
"The unused money in the Fund is not going to lapse and it would get momentum between January to March and since this is the working season and I am sure by end of June this will be spent," he said adding that people don`t remember work done in first year and this is last year (of this 15th Lok Sabha).
Commenting about efficiency in spending MLA development funds, the minister said they choose the executor of works themselves while an MP can only recommend and rest is done by the district administration.
It was also informed that the cumulative utilisation of MPLAD funds is about 90 per cent as of now.
PTI
