Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Panel reviews MPLADS funds use

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Members of the parliamentary committee on Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) visited various institutions in the district on Thursday to review the utilisation of the funds.

The six-member team, led by committee chairman Prassanna Acharya (Orissa), visited various educational institutions and the Sree Avittam Tirunal (SAT) Hospital in the city. Members Hiten Barman (West Bengal), Raghuvir Singh Kaushal (Rajasthan), Sukhdev Singh Libra (Punjab), P. Rajendran (Kollam), Y.S. Naik (Goa) and MPLADS director Anil Kumar Chowdhary are also visiting the State.

“Every Member of Parliament gets an amount of Rs.2 crore per annum for local area development. The committee reviews the utilisation of the fund and looks into the pros and cons regarding the implementation of these schemes,” Mr. Acharya said.

He said the committee would also seek comments from the people regarding the desirability of these schemes. “From our inspection so far we have found that the MPLAD schemes are running successfully in the State. The final review report will be submitted to Parliament,” Mr. Acharaya said. He said three MPLADS reports had already been submitted to the 14th Lok Sabha.

On Thursday, the team visited Cotton Hills Government HSS, Sree Swathi Tirunal College of Music, SAT Hospital and Karakulam UP School. The auditorium of the Cotton Hill GHSS built using Rs.19 lakh from the MP fund of Pannian Ravindran, Rs.5 lakh open air auditorium of the music college from the fund of former MP V.S. Sivakumar, the ladies’ resting room at SAT Hospital built using Rs.9 lakh from the fund of Pannian Ravindran and the Rs.9 lakh school building at Karakulam UP School built by the MP fund of Varkala Radhakrishnan were inspected by the team.

The team, which arrived in the State on Tuesday, had already visited Kottayam and Ernakulam districts. On Friday, the team will hold discussions with Chief Secretary P.J. Thomas. Thiruvananthapuram district had utilised around 78 per cent of the MPs fund since 1993-94 period. Out of the Rs.47.10 crore transferred from the fund to the district administration since 1993-94, Rs.41.3 crore had been utilised.

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