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Centre's decision to cut salaries &pensions of MPs is welcome. It's a good way for us to show solidarity w/people suffering across the country. But the Ordinance ending MPLADS funds for 2 years &pooling them into a Consolidated Fund run by the CentralGovt is problematic: [contd.]
MPLADS is the only means for an MP to direct development resources to his constituency. An order to earmark all MPLAD spending for #COVID19 related measures would have been OK; I used mine to get urgently-needed #rapidtestkits & PPE to Thiruvananthapuram's health workers.[contd.]
MPLADS preserved the sense of direct responsibility for the well-being of constituents that is a hallmark of an Indian MP's work. Now the money will be allocated by the Centre &will follow the priorities&preferences of NewDelhi, rather than reflect 543 sets of local needs.[cntd.]
To take one example, the Centre has allocated ₹157 cr of Disaster Response Mitigation Funds to Kerala, which has 314 #COVID19 cases, while Gujarat, with only 122 cases, gets ₹662 cr. Will this kind of imbalance also affect the reallocation of MPLADS funds? [cntd.]
In order to avoid such injustice, it's essential that MPLADS money continues to be spent constituency-wise. I urge the Govt to revise this decision by allowing MPs to earmark these funds for #COVID19 related expenditure to meet local needs &benefit the vulnerable. It's their job!
