Three-time Pune MP Suresh Kalmadi,battling several allegations over corruption during the CWG in Delhi,has got just one allocation from the MP Local Area Development funds for the city ever since he won the Lok Sabha poll in May 2009,while other MPs have forged ahead in getting MPLAD funds for development of their respective constituencies. Under MPLAD,the government provides each MP with Rs 2 crore a year to develop their constituencies and after every instalment,an audit report has to be submitted for availing of the next. According to statistics provided by the district planning office,Kalmadi got the first instalment of Rs 1 crore in October 2009 for six works,mostly pertaining to road development,water supply and borewells but only 60 per cent of the works has been completed. Other MPs from the district,Shivaji Adhalrao Patil from Shirur,Supriya Sule from Baramati and Gajanan Babar from Maval,have made several recommendations and have got Rs 3 crore each for development of their constituencies,after their win in 2009. They are on their way to getting the next instalment but Kalmadi has to yet produce the report of allocation made in the first. Funds are released after satisfactory audit report comes through. MPs have to make their recommendations and do regular follow ups. We put up proposals and allocate funds as funds come in. The first allocation is followed by a detailed audit report and only once that is furnished will the next lot of funds come in, explains Patil,who has already undertaken works worth more than Rs 4 crore for the 2009-10 to 2010-2011 period. The implementing agency,the district planning department,has to execute the work and furnish the funds utilisation certificate to New Delhi, he added. The funds to be allocated for various works like road repairs,water supply,compound walls,school furniture,tapping solar energy,have been put up as recommendations with the district planning department. As soon as funds come in we start getting the work executed. The funds are for the constituencys development, said Sule. Babar,who has bagged the three instalments after systematically giving the audit report of all the works undertaken in his constituency,said,The funds are allocated yearly for development of the area. If unused,the area suffers. Commenting on the Pune MPs failure to get funds,activist Vijay Kumbhar,who frequently raises issues regarding the citys development,said,Such poor allocation shows the lack of interest on the part of the MP. It is a waste of funds,which otherwise can be utilised for development of the area. The district planning department,which draws details of the work given and undertaken,does not have any work undertaken in this year at all for Pune. While the suggested works for development of the other three MPs range from 100 to 200,Kalmadi has listed only 32.
