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No doubling of MPs fund: Centre

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 9. The Government has turned down the plea of Members of Parliament to increase the annual allocation of Rs. 2 crores for the MPs Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds.

The demand for doubling the allocation to Rs. 4 crores a constituency or even to Rs. 5 crores was made by the MPs cutting across party lines and the latest reiteration of the demand was during an exhibition here last week of development works undertaken with these funds. The Lok Sabha Speaker, Mahohar Joshi, had even offered to lead a delegation of MPs to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, for pressing the demand.

However, information given out by the Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Vijay Goel, states that higher allocations have also been sought on the basis of the size of the constituency, the number of voters, the magnitude of local needs and increased allocations of the Members of Legislative Assemblies under similar schemes.

The Government has communicated that it cannot accede to the demand because of resource constraints.

The MPLAD scheme was started with an annual allocation of Rs. 1 crore under which the MP can recommend development works within the constituency.

The actual work is, however, undertaken by the district administration. The allocation was later raised to Rs. 2 crores.

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