The Delhi BJP, on Thursday, criticised the Delhi government for increasing the annual MLA-LAD fund from Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore, claiming that the hiked fund is more likely to be misused for personal gains by the AAP MLAs rather than for the development of their constituencies.
“The sudden increase in the MLA fund, announced in the last moments of this government’s tenure, is not intended for solving local problems but will instead serve as an opportunity for AAP legislators to engage in corruption through commissions and collusion with contractors and officials,” said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.
The current assembly term, which began in 2020, saw the allocation of only Rs 15 crore in MLA funds over the past four years whereas the total amount should have been Rs 40 crore. This underfunding contributed to the poor state of local roads and the failing sewage system, which typically require significant allocation from MLA funds.
The tenure of the present assembly started in 2020, but in the first four years, the Arvind Kejriwal government gave only Rs 15 crore MLA fund instead of Rs 40 crore and the big proof of this is the poor condition of roads and streets of Delhi and the broken sewer system on which most of the MLA fund is spent, said Sachdeva.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi assembly Vijender Gupta said, “The people know very well that it will take about a month of administrative time to make this additional amount into MLA fund and the tender process also takes time. In the meanwhile, a model code of conduct will be imposed and due to this, the MLA fund will also end”.
The LoP said that given the timing and circumstances, the BJP demands that the government should ensure the effective utilization of these additional MLA funds.
“This increase in MLA funds must be used for actual development work, and all projects initiated in the final 100 days must be closely monitored to prevent misuse,” added Gupta.