MPLAD disaster fund misuse alleged by Rajya Sabha MPs

With surging climate change, the number of extreme weather events are on the rise in India; and so are the allegations about misuse of funds allotted from MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) to combat those disasters.

Several irregularities in the utilisation of funds disbursed under MPLAD programme were highlighted by MPLAD committee members during a recent meeting held in Delhi as per the information available with this reporter. The committee, made for fund monitoring of Rajya Sabha members, has ten members with representatives from most major political parties.

According to sources, Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha MP and committee member Santanu Sen pointed out number of anomalies with MPLAD fund utilisation during the meeting with documentary evidences referring that the complete utilisation certificate of funds disbursed to combat natural disasters those had happened several years back, are still not being submitted. Number of other committee members supported Sen.

Committee chairman and deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, Harivansh Narayan Singh has asked officials of ministry of statistics and plan implementation to respond to the raised anomalies and respond to the allegations; though, neither Sen nor Singh wanted to speak anything on the issue while quizzed on the complaint.

“I cannot say anything in public; I have told what was needed to be told in the committee meeting” said Senwhile asked about his complaints. “I am not supposed to discuss the proceedings of the meeting in the open,” said Singh to this reporter.

S R Balasubramoniyan, an AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu and member of the committee, also did not want to divulge anything on the issue. “Please ask the other members” , said Akhilesh Prasad Singh, a congress MP from Bihar.

Most of the members contacted, 5 could be connected out of 10, did not want to be quoted but majority, in private, accepted that the issue was discussed at length.

According to sources, Sen raised one after another specific allegation of fund misutilisation in the meeting mainly in context to funds allotted to combat various climatic disasters across the country.

There is no evidence that the huge funds disbursed from MPLAD during disasters have been properly utilised as complete utilisation certificates are hardly submitted, complained Sen in the meeting giving specific examples.

Sen complained even the complete utilisation certificate of about 31.36 crores rupees sent to Kerala, Tamil Nādu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Andaman Nicobar after tsunami in 2004, 18 years back, has not been submitted; ditto for about 10.72 crores rupees given to Bihar after Koshi flood in 2008.

The Bengal MP has pointed out that still no account has been furnished for about 16 crores rupees out of 58.69 crores allotted to Uttarakhand after the mega disaster in 2013 that killed thousands.

The anomaly seems to have become a rule in MPLAD as similar mismatch is evident in one extreme weather event after another; be it Phailin in Orissa during 2013, Hudhud in 2014 or Kerala flood in 2018.

“This is not a major issue, there may be some procedural lapses; hope the officials will sort out the issue soon” said a senior committee member choosing to remain anonymous.

“I can clearly remember that we, Rajya Sabha MPs, were officially asked by the government to provide money from our MPLAD fund during disasters in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry, but we never received any utilisation certificate against the fund provided” pointed out Pradip Bhattacharya, Congress MP from Rajya Sabha to this reporter; claiming that “the practice is a signal of corrupt practices”.