Bhubaneswar: In a bid to boost infrastructure development in the constituencies, the state government provides `1 crore to each MLA as Local Area Development (LAD) fund to implement some infrastructure projects under his/her Assembly constituency. Thanks to the callousness of concerned officials, about `251.38 crore MLALAD fund has remained unutilised.
According to a statement issued by Planning and Convergence Minister Padmanabha Behera, the government has sanctioned `735 crore (Rs 1 crore each year to each MLA) in the last five years – from 2015-15 to 2018-19. The funds have been allotted to the elected representatives of the 15th Assembly. However, the government could utlise `483.62 crore so far as a result of which 34 per cent of the sanctioned fund remained unspent.
About `24.63 crore development fund remained unutilised in Khurda district while `18.65 crore is yet to be spent in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s home district Ganjam.
Similarly, of the `25 crore sanctioned to five MLA constituencies of Bargarh district, `16.24 crore has remained unutilised. In Kendrapara district, `17 crore MLA LAD fund remained unspent, `15.07 crore in Kalahandi, `14.95 crore in Angul district, `14.76 crore in Balasore, `13.57 crore in Jajpur, `11.90 crore in Mayurbhanj and `11.79 crore in Puri district.
Even the state government has failed to spend `245.34 crore (40 per cent) sanctioned under crucial programme-Biju KBK Plan.
As per data provided by the Minister, the government has sanctioned `600 crore (Rs120 crore each year) under the Plan between 2014-15 and 2018-19, of which `345.65 crore has been utilized and the remaining `245.34 crore is yet to be spent till now.
Eight districts – Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Bolangir, Sonepur, Kalahandi and Nuapada – have been covered under the Biju KBK Plan.
The government has sanctioned `97.50 crore for one of the poorest districts – Bolangir in the past five years, of which `42.40 crore is yet to be spent by the district authorities. Out of `82.50 crore, `36.98 crore has not been spent by the Rayagada district administration.
The situation is no better in other districts too. While `40.59 crore has remained unspent in Kalahandi district, the officials have not been able to spend `32.69 crore sanctioned for Koraput district. Besides, `28.29 crore has remained unspent in Sonepur, `22.82 crore in Nuapada, `22.22 crore in Nabarangpur and `19.25 crore in Malkangiri district.