Out of Rs 7.5 crore released, Ravindra Gaikwad has spent only Rs 2.3 crore, as per the latest government statistics
After completing three years of their term in 16th Lok Sabha, many of the Members of Parliament from Maharashtra appear clueless at least in one aspect — how to utilise the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds for the betterment of the state.
Shiv Sena MP from Osmanabad Ravindra Gaikwad, who shot to 'fame' after his public admission of thrashing an Air India employee with slippers this March, has spent less than 1/3 of his funds so far, the lowest among all 48 Lok Sabha members from the state.
Out of Rs 7.5 crore released, Gaikwad has spent only Rs 2.3 crore, as per the latest government statistics.
Incidentally, his constituency is part of the Marathwada region, which was marred with severe drought from 2014 to 2015 and continues to face developmental backlogs.
Anil Shirole (Pune, BJP) and Gopal Shetty (Mumbai North, BJP) are little better than Gaikwad in spending the kitty. However, neither of them could spend even half of his funds until now.
On the other hand, the BJP MP from Bhiwandi Kapil Patil, has topped the chart by spending the entire fund in his constituency, believed to be one of the most underdeveloped and complicated one in the entire Mumbai Metro Region area.
Overall, Maharashtra's Lok Sabha members have managed to spend only Rs 367 crore out of the total Rs 505 crore released by the Union Finance Ministry under the MPLAD scheme. This corresponds to nearly 72 per cent expenditure against the available funds. Over Rs 138 crore are lying unused with various district authorities.
Maharashtra's average is less than the national average of 75 per cent MPLAD fund utilisation. Moreover, our representatives lag far behind from those of Bihar, Himachal, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, who have spent 85-90 per cent of their entitlement.
This apathy is despite the fact that several constituencies in the state have huge development backlog. As against their entitlement of Rs 960 crore for four years (Rs 5 crore per year), the centre has released only Rs 505 crore up to May end, reveals the government statistics.
While Gaikwad and Shirole were unreachable for comments, Gopal Shetty sought to defend himself by claiming, "In MPLADS our role is limited only up to recommendation of works. It is the responsibility of the District Authority to sanction, execute and complete the works recommended by the MPs. My funds didn't get utilised because of apathy of the Collector, a 6-8 months delay in approvals and then a very slow delivery."
Shetty further alleged, "Earlier projects funded by the MPLAD were marred in huge corruption with nearly 30 per cent leakage. Since our government has come into power, e-tenders have been made mandatory for expenses above Rs 3 lakh. Since the government officers are not able to get their cut now, the pace of the projects has slowed down."
He also alleged that "many MPs are spending money in road laying in the slum areas which is nothing but corruption and wastage of public money." "Many people spend MPLAD funds on the roads in the slum area, which are already laid by corporators and even by the MLAs. I don't take up such works," claimed Shetty without naming anyone.
TOP FIVE SPENDERS
- Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi, BJP): 100%
- Ashok Chavan (Nanded, Congress): 91%
- Sanjaykaka Patil (Sangli, BJP): 88%
- Rajan Vichare (Thane, BJP): 88%
- Dilip Gandhi (Ahmadnagar, BJP) and Anant Geete (Raigad, Shiv Sena): 85%
TOP FIVE NON-SPENDERS
- Ravindra Gaikwad (Osmanabad, Shiv Sena): 31%
- Anil Shirole (Pune, BJP): 35%
- Gopal Shetty (Mumbai north, BJP): 46%
- Nana Patole (Bhandara-Gondia, BJP): 57%
- Vinayak Raut (Sindhudrug-Ratnagiri, Shiv Sena): 58%
What Gopal Shetty says
"Since our government came into power, e-tenders have been made mandatory for expenses above Rs3 lakh. Since babus are not able to get their cut now, the pace of the projects has slowed down. Moreover, many people spend MPLAD fund on the roads in the slum area which are already laid by corporators and even MLAs. I don't take up such works."
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 "Ravindra Gaikwad")
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