Dear MP Sir, Why can’t you set an example?
Posted : August 20, 2004 at 9:44 am [IST]
I have written on the issue of MPLADS (Member of Parliament Local Area Development Schemes) on number of occasions to many of you directly as well through media. As an MP, you get Rs 2 crore a year for spending on projects in your constituency. It may be your grievance that the fund is too small for your stature, as voiced by number of your colleagues in a report presented in The Sunday Indian Express of August 15 this year. But how is that out of Rs 9,780 crore released since its inception in 1993 till July 2002, the average utilization is only around 64%? Some of your very senior colleagues including Lalooji and Farooq Abdullah have not spent a single rupee out of their fund. Even if we ignore these two great MPs for their unique character of their own, why are Rajnath Singh, Keshubhai Patel, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (who claims to be kisan by profession) and out of all P.C.Alexander also in the same club of irresponsible representatives of the people? Is the allowing of these funds to lapse not anti-people? Does it not deprive the constituencies of at least some development projects? Their fund would have brought some smiles to people in at least one or two villages or localities of their constituencies. Why could not they follow Arun Shourie’s example who with the accumulated sum got a special centre built at IIT, Kanpur?
The Indian Express report covers the plans of some 57 new MPs. As it appears the MPs are a confused lot. Sadhu Yadav of RJD (Bihar) wants to build kisan bhavans (community centres) and spend money on high-oxygen lights (costing Rs 6 lakh each. Jairam Ramesh wishes to improve the conditions of tribal population with very high sounding programmes. (I wish him success and like him to report back through his usual columns his success stories.) Sarad Joshi of Maharashtra wants to build communication centres. Jyotirmoyee Sikdar of CPM (West Bengal) wishes to upgrade sports facilities. Subrata Bose of forward Block West Bengal) intends to build a gym in Barasat Stadium. Manvendra Singh of BJP and son of Jaswant Singh will work for providing drinking water, as he can no more bring Narmada water to villages of his constituency as promised. However, most of them talk of BSP (Bijali, Sarak, Pani). Some like Sachin Pilot has already sanctioned work worth Rs 1.5 crore. As it appears, they hardly know how to manage their fund. They can’t cover the whole of their constituency and improve road, water supply, power situation and education.
However, even if they select two villages in their constituencies per year with an allocation of about 40 lakh for the improvement, it will make a significant impact. As universally agreed, let the education and primary healthcare remain the first two priorities. Over their 5 years in parliament, each MP will be able to improve 10 villages and with all MPs taking this agreed line, around 10,000 villages can be uplifted to a good standard of education and healthcare facilitiesin 5 year term.. If we take the number of all legislators in state assemblies and assume that each will take care of one village every year and invest the development fund for that, the number will be significant enough to change the rural India significantly. It will start a multiplying factor in rural development with example of these villages.
As a first thing, you must ensure the transparency of the fund utilization. The fund must create some permanent assets for the people, however small that may be. As you have worked in the constituency, you must have a clear picture of projects on which you want to spend the money. Please list the projects out with location, estimated cost, and estimated date of completion, person responsible and similar information and communicate the same to your electorate through the local media. Have a website of your own and put it on it. You please see that the perception of the people that the fund is shared between contractors and MP must be wiped out through your effort. Besides getting these projects implemented, you with your contacts can get more projects from different ministries to the villages in your area. You can also get your industrialist friends involved in some. You can motivate the young men and women of the area to work on their problems themselves. Please see that PURA is achieved and movement of rural population to urban juggies get stopped.
I appeal the MPs to visit the villages and spend a night in some in all recesses of parliament. They must do it with no chamchas accompanying them and must try to have one to one communication with the public. It will bring a big change in the morale of the rural population and motivate them to contribute better to the nation building. As a last item, I request our MPs to take up the population control as a mission number one when they move and communicate to the rural population.
I wish if I could know what Meira Kumar and Ashok Pradhan have in their plan for their constituencies, as I come from there.
Some Updates of previous entries will start appearing from the next entry.
- Indra
Category: Indian politics |
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