NEW DELHI: A decision on the government formation in Delhi may hang fire, but this has not stopped the MLAs from nurturing their constituencies. The legislators are in a spending spree from their local area development scheme (MLALADS) funds, just in case elections are announced again.
Most of the 67 legislators are busy sanctioning various projects in their constituencies from their Rs 4-crore annual funds. From constructing speed-breakers, security gates, toilets, roads in unauthorised colonies and slums clusters to installing closed-circuit cameras, the legislators are sanctioning funds for an array of projects. Interestingly, over a dozen legislators have almost exhausted the funds allotted to them within less than four months of the sanction, and a few of them have not even touched the money meant to be spent for the development of their area.
BJP MLA from Shahdara, Jitender Singh Shunty, who was allegedly attacked early this month, has spent almost the full sanctioned amount in his constituency. He can’t sanction any big project this year as only Rs 1.59 lakh is left unused in his funds. Similarly, his party colleague and Badarpur MLA Rambir Singh Bidhuri, who was in controversy for allegedly convincing six Congress MLAs to support the BJP to form government, has also utilised most of the allotted funds in his constituency. “Only Rs 13.34 lakh is left in his fund,” said a Delhi government official.
Congress MLAs are not left behind too. Asif Mohammad Khan from Okhla and Hasan Ahmad from Mustafabad have spent most of their funds too. Khan is left with Rs 21.03 lakh while Ahmad has Rs 23.88 in his kitty.
Apart from them, eight more MLAs belonging to the Congress, BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have exhausted money from their funds.
Contrary to them, five legislators have not even spent a single paisa from their allotted funds. AAP MLAs—Ashok Kumar Chauhan from Ambedkar Nagar and Somnath Bharti from Malviya Nagar—fall in this category. Similarly, three BJP MLAs—Pawan Sharma from Uttam Nagar, Harmeet Singh from Kalkaji and Neel Daman Khatri from Narela—have not sanctioned a single project in their constituencies.
Interestingly, citing corruption, the AAP government had wanted to do away with the MLA funds. But now as opposed to their own demands, their leader and legislators are happily spending funds which is being attributed by many to their eye on polls.
AAP chief and then chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had proposed scrapping of the funds and sought to merge it with mohalla sabhas, as part of the Delhi Swaraj Bill 2014 that was approved by the Delhi Cabinet on the day of his resignation.
After exit of the Kejriwal government, the L-G decided to continue with the funds which were released to legislators in June. Senior MLAs of the three main parties in the Assembly—AAP’s Kejriwal from New Delhi constituency, Congress’s state unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar and Jagdish Mukhi of the BJP from Janakpuri—have been spending their funds wisely, their main focus being reaching out to people.
Kejriwal has sanctioned funds for installation of hundreds of closed-circuit cameras in Sarojini Nagar, Bengali Market, Laxmi Bai Nagar, SBS Marg and Baird Lane in his constituency. He has also approved various projects to install water filter hydrant and construct toilets at slum clusters and parks. He has spent money for procurement of table tennis equipment for a community centre. Only Rs 87 lakh is left in his allotted fund.
While Lovely has used funds for construction of five roads and lanes in Seelampur and Gandhi Nagar areas, Mukhi has used funds for construction of drains and lanes in Milap Nagar that falls in his constituency. Lovely has spent around `2.9 crore and Mukhi `2.2 crore.
In a new twist to the funds utilisation which has led to controversy, MLAs of some parties have decided to contribute from their funds for flood-affected people of Jammu and Kashmir.
On September 14, Congress leader Haroon Yusuf announced his party’s decision to extend an assistance of `2 crore for which the eight party legislators—Yusuf, Lovely, Jai Kishan, Mateen Ahmed, Hasan Ahmed, Devender Yadav, Prahlad Singh Sahni and Khan—will contribute Rs 25 lakh each from their funds. Khan and Hasan Ahmad, however, have no adequate money in their funds to contribute Rs 25 lakh for the cause.
This might stoke controversy since a similar move by AAP was first shot down by the L-G Najeeb Jung before being accepted at the insistence of the urban development department.
