By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 18 Apr: Lok Sabha MPs of Uttarakhand have struggled to utilise their Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds effectively, with five MPs failing to approve any work from their allocated funds during the year 2024. Furthermore, only 58 percent of the MPLAD funds of former MPs has been utilised by December 2024, leaving 795 approved works uninitiated. This information was disclosed in response to an RTI query submitted to the Rural Development Commissioner Uttarakhand Office, the nodal department for MPLAD funds.
The RTI query sought details regarding the expenditure of MPLAD funds by Lok Sabha MPs of Uttarakhand. In response, Public Information Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Administration, Hemant Gujiyal, provided the expenditure details as of December 2024.
According to the information provided, no MP of the 18th Lok Sabha had approved any work by December 2024. In contrast, former MPs of the 17th Lok Sabha had approved 5782 works during their tenure, of which 3517 were completed, 1470 were ongoing, and 795 remained uninitiated.
The data revealed that Almora MP Ajay Tamta could utilise only 69 percent of his MPLAD funds during the 17th Lok Sabha tenure. Out of 1,763 approved works, 701 were completed, 936 were in progress, while 36 are yet to begin.
Haridwar MP Trivendra Singh Rawat has not approved any work from his Rs 5 crore MPLAD fund allocation so far during the past 1 year since he was elected MP. His predecessor and former Haridwar MP Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal could spend only 50 percent of his MPLAD funds, completing 160 out of 355 approved works, with 195 still in progress.
Pauri MP Anil Baluni has also failed to approve any work from his Rs 5 crore MPLAD fund allocation as per the response given by the Rural Development Department. At the same time, former Pauri MP Tirath Singh Rawat could utilise only 38 percent of his MPLAD funds, completing 370 out of 986 approved works, while 166 ae ongoing and 450 remained uninitiated.
Tehri MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah has also not approved any work from her Rs 5 crore MPLAD fund allocation during the 18th Lok Sabha tenure. However, she had managed to utilise about 68 percent of her MPLAD funds during her previous tenure, completing 2086 out of 2397 approved works, with 4 ongoing and 307 uninitiated.
Nainital MP Ajay Bhatt has also not approved any work from his Rs 5 crore MPLAD fund allocation during his current tenure. In his previous tenure under the 17th Lok Sabha, 64 percent of his MPLAD funds were spent, completing 200 out of 371 approved works, with 169 ongoing and 2 uninitiated. The data indicates that the Lok Sabha MPs from the state are at present not awakened to the needs of their constituencies besides the fact that the MPs and the MLAs tend to spend most of their MPLAD or MLALAD funds during the later half of their term which leads to unusual delay in the completion of the projects, some of which may be of crucial infrastructural development value and importance.
