By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 7 Mar: While the MLAs cutting across party lines press the government on a regular basis to increase the amount to be allocated to them under the MLA Local Area Development Fund (MLALAD fund), in reality, a significant number of MLAs fail to utilise even half of their funds in time. These MLAS include even the ministers. While some of the MLAs prefer to spend majority of the funds towards the fag end of their term as MLA possibly to show some development in their areas to the voters, the fact remains that halfway through their tenure, Uttarakhand’s MLAs have only spent 61 percent of the allocated funds. An RTI query reveals that the MLAs with the lowest fund expenditure include Kishore Upadhyay (who has spent only 15 percent of the fund), Cabinet Minister Dhan Singh Rawat (who has so far spent only 29 percent of the funds), Cabinet Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal (spent 33 percent of his funds so far), Mohan Singh Bisht (34 percent), Khushal Singh (34 percent), Pritam Singh (37 percent), Sarita Arya (40 percent), Suresh Gadiya (42 percent), Banshidhar Bhagat (43 percent), Bharat Singh Chaudhary (43 percent), Rajendra Singh (44 percent), and Shakti Lal Shah (44 percent).
It may be recalled that the Rural Development Commissioner (RDC) Office is the nodal department dealing with the MLA-LAD funds.
In response to a RTI query, Deputy Commissioner Hemant Gunjyal has provided the details of the current status of the utilisation of the MLA-LAD funds.
According to the information, MLA funds totalling an amount of Rs 96,400 lakhs were available from 2022-23 to December 2024. However, only 61 percent (Rs 58,926.35 lakhs) has been spent, leaving 39 percent (Rs 37,459.65 lakhs) unspent.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has spent 53 percent of his MLA fund. Cabinet Minister and Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj has spent 56 percent of the MLA-LAD fund midway through the term. Cabinet Minister and Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi is among the best utilisers of the funds having utilised 72 percent of the MLA-LAD fund, so far, while Cabinet Minister and Sitarganj MLA Saurabh Bahuguna has the best record among the ministers, having already utilised 85 percent of the funds, so far while Cabinet Minister and Narendra Nagar MLA Subodh Uniyal has also performed well, having spent about 57 percent of fund so far. Cabinet Minister and Someshwar MLA Rekha Arya has utilised 64 percent of the fund so far. Cabinet Minister and Srinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat really lags behind with just 29 percent utilisation of funds. Chandan Ramdas, who was a minister and a local MLA from Bageshwar till his death on 26 April 2023 managed to utilise 84 percent of the funds. It may be recalled that his wife Parvati Das was elected as MLA following his death and she also has managed to utilise the funds adequately.
The MLAs with the highest fund expenditure are Pradeep Batra, having spent 90 percent, former Minister and MLA from Bajpur, Arvind Pandey spent 87 percent of the funds, Ravi Bahadur spent 85 percent, Saurabh Bahuguna, who spent 85 percent, Chandan Ramdas (who spent 84 percent, Furkan Ahmed who spent 84 percent, Gopal Singh Rana who spent 83 percent, Umesh Kumar, MLA from Khanpur who spent 82 percent and Umesh Sharma Kaur who spent 80 percent of his MLA-LAD fund already.
Other MLAs with fund expenditures below the state average of 61 percent include Yashpal Arya with 45 percent, Sumit Hridayesh with 46 percent, Ram Singh Kaida with 46 percent, Durgesh Lal with 47, Suresh Chauhan with 47 percent, Late Shaila Rani with 48 percent, Sanjay Dobhal with 49 percent, Renu Singh with 51 percent, Bhupal Ram Tamta with 55 percent, Manoj Tiwari with 56 percent, Trilok Singh Cheema with 56 percent, Madan Kaushik with 57 percent, Savita Kapoor with 58 percent, Vinod Kandari with 58 percent, Diwan Singh Bisht with 58 percent, Mayukh Mahar with 60 percent and Mahant Dilip Singh Rawat with also 60 percent.
