As many as 25 MPs including Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, Janata Dal [Secular] leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, and Ram Jethmalani (BJP) have not yet availed themselves of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme.
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Jena disclosed this in reply to a question in Parliament.
The MPLADS is designed to help MPs promote developmental works in their constituencies. The Centre allocates Rs. 5 crore per MP per year or a total of Rs. 3,950 crore per annum.
Anand Sharma,
Hema Malini in list
Congress leader and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, actor Hema Malini (BJP), business tycoon and independent member Vijay Mallya, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's T.M. Selvaganapathi also figure in the list of MPs who have yet to recommend any developmental work under the scheme.
The others are Mukhat Abbas Naqvi, Smriti Zubin Irani, Tarun Vijay, D.S. Pandya, Meghraj Jain and Nishikant Dubey of the BJP; Satish Kumar Sharma, Narendra Budania and H.U. Dalwai of the Congress; Jugal Kishore, N.K. Kashyap, Salim Ansari and Pramod Kureel of the Bahujan Samaj Party; Shashi Bhushan Behera and Baishnab Panda of the Biju Janata Dal; B.S. Bhunder of the Akali Dal; R.P. Singh of the JD (U) and Mohan Singh of the Samajwadi Party.
