Mumbai MPs sit on funds for development,half unspent

Among the six city MPs,Mumbai North MP Sanjay Nirupam has a decent fund utilisation of 82 per cent,while Eknath Gaikwad,Priya Dutt,Milind Deora,Sanjay Dina Patil and Gurudas Kamat have spent only 35-58 per cent of the allotted funds. Every parliamentary constituency is entitled to an annual fund of Rs 2 crore,which comes up to a total of Rs 10 crore over a five-year term.

Till date,these six MPs have been sanctioned Rs 3.35 crore each for their constituency. “The fund never lapses,which means that MPs also get the funds left unused by their predecessors. If the MPs are unable to utilise even their current allocation,it clearly shows a lack of programme in their mind,” said Vivek Gilani,founder of Mumbai Votes.

He added that most of the spending by MPs overlaps with the local corporators’ areas of concern. “For instance,Nirupam has spent a major chunk of his funds on water supply,which is actually digging of borewells in housing societies. Also,there is no mechanism to demonstrate the need versus spending of MPLADs,” he said.

MPs,however,say their fund utilisation is dictated by the demands of their constituency. “I would like to spend my funds on setting up a library,buying computers for schools,building laboratories for colleges and other welfare activities,which corporators generally overlook. But 90 per cent of the demand is typically for drainage lines or water connection,” said Mumbai South MP Deora,who has spent 49 per cent of funds in his current term mostly on the above areas with only 4 per cent being spent on education.

Nirupam echoed the views. “Since water scarcity is a major concern in my constituency,in the coming year I aim to provide borewells to another 200 buildings. A corporator cannot spend money on such a large number of borewells. I would like to spend funds on providing basic infrastructure in the tribal areas of Sanjay Gandhi National Park,but I am not allowed to,” he said.