The Hindu : National : ``Raise allocation to MPs scheme or scrap it''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 24, 2005

National

National

``Raise allocation to MPs scheme or scrap it''

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 23. Cutting across party lines, Members in the Lok Sabha said today that the amount allocated to each Parliamentarian as part of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) should be increased with some arguing that the programme should be scrapped if more money could not be allocated.

The issue was raised during question hour by Chandra Mani Tripathi, BJP, who said that it was wrong to say that the funds were being misused as stated in a report of the Institute of Social Studies. He asked whether the Government was planning any change in the existing scheme. The Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Oscar Fernandes, replied that new guidelines would be introduced during the next session.

To a loud round of applause from across the floor, Mr. Tripathi demanded that the annual allocation for MPLADS be raised from the existing Rs. 2 crores to Rs. 5 crores, and that defaulters be identified instead of painting everyone with the same brush. With the members egging him on, the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, said: ``Let us not pressurise on our matter.''

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