MLAs may continue to get Rs 4 crore yearly under MLALADs scheme

NEW DELHI: With the AAP government gone, its decision to scrap the MLA local area development (LAD) funds may have got a quiet burial. Caretaker chief minister Arvind Kejirwal had sought to do away with the MLALADs scheme and empower the common man instead with decision-making and financial powers through "mohalla samitis". However, the Delhi Nagar Swaraj Bill 2014 that would have made this change possible could not journey beyond a cabinet decision, and its fate will be decided by the next government that will not be formed before June.

The AAP government's urban development minister, Manish Sisodia, had from the very beginning pressed for scrapping MLALADs and decentralizing financial powers.

After the government resigned, the urban development department sought legal opinion and recommended that the finance department revive the MLA funds as the Rs 800-crore special fund under the Swaraj legislation would not materialize.

The new fund was to be created by putting an end to several funds, including the Rs 4 crore annual budget available to each of the 70 MLAs for development works in their constituencies. Funds for the "My Delhi I Care" project started by the Congress government were also to be diverted.

The provision for the new fund was cleared and the budget proposals had been prepared before the Aam Aadmi Party government stepped down. Thereafter, the financial proposals had to be revised and pruned in keeping with the constitutional position.

If Parliament approves the city's interim budget prepared under the lieutenant governor's supervision, it is likely that the MLA funds will be revived and the current MLAs will receive the grants in the new financial year. However, with AAP ideologically opposed to the scheme, its 27 MLAs may turn down the funds marked for them.

AAP is against the MLALADs scheme as it believes that the concentration of funds in MLAs' hands leads to corruption and deprives people of civic development.