Last month, Rahul Gandhi said in Sevagram, Maharashtra, that half the country?s MPs want their local area development (MPLAD) scheme to end. ?If you ask MPs, at least 50 per cent of them will tell you put an end to this scheme because… the scheme does not give so much money that development work can be carried out in the entire parliamentary seat.?
Third-party audits since 2007-08, however, have found many MPs misusing funds under the scheme. Audit reports since 2010 have been accessed by The Indian Express through an RTI application.
The auditors studied 308 districts, taking around 50 sample projects in each, and found MPs, district authorities and implementation authorities violating the guidelines of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, nodal to the scheme. Some MPs were found using projects created with these funds as their own assets. Some projects were found to have been encroached by local musclemen, including aides of the MPs. In some cases, inspecting teams found on the ground no work as mentioned in records. Assets created were often poorly maintained, and so were records, with the auditors noting in a number of reports that they couldn?t carry out their task because the records were missing.
From its launch in 1993 until last week, Rs 32,133 crore has been released under the scheme and state governments have spent Rs 29,019 crore on MPs? recommendations. The current annual limit is Rs 5 crore in a Lok Sabha MP?s constituency or a Rajya Sabha MP?s state.
The audits have been done by NABARD Consultancy Services in 208 districts and by Agriculture Finance Corporation in 100. Ministry sources say their reports are being forwarded to district authorities.
Starting today, The Indian Express will go into the audit findings, district by district, beginning with Rae Bareli.
