By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India and Lok Sabha MP from Varanasi, has not spent a single rupee from his MPLADS funds in all the four villages adopted under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).
The shocking fact came in a response to an application filed under Right to Information (RTI), the response to which was sent on June 30, 2018.
The response addressed to applicant Anuj Verma from Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh, stated that no development works conducted in the four villages adopted by Narendra Modi have been budgeted from the funds allocated under Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS).
The Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) states that all Members of Parliament have to adopt villages in their constituency and to develop the same as a modern village. The MPs must adopt a minimum of three villages in one tenure.
As the official website of SAGY states, “Since the SAANJHI has activities cutting across different spheres, in order to implement the Scheme successfully close coordination and convergence will be required across different Ministries, departments, Schemes of the Government of India, MPLADS, State Government and the private sector,” the cost of developing a modern village under SAGY would come from different resources including MPLADS.
It further states, “Tied and untied funds for e.g. untied resources of the Gram Panchayats like own revenue, Central and State Finance Commission grants etc must be used to optimize implementation.”
In one of his addresses, PM Narendra Modi himself said that an MP is unable to unify the expenditure of MPLADS, therefore the SAGY scheme would help him in focusing his funds in a single village in developing it as a modern one. But, apparently, Narendra Modi himself has failed to do so. He first adopted Jayapur on November 7, 2014, then Nagepur on February 16, 2016, Kakarahiya on October 23, 2017, and lastly Domri on April 6, 2018. All of the works in four villages have been done by the private authorities, government banks, state-level institutions, and some central government bodies, locals informed TwoCircles.net.
For instance, a Gujarat-based firm has constructed all the bio-toilets in Jayapur, and Vedanta group has constructed one Anganbadi Centre in Nagepur village. The solar street lights have been installed by various public banks.
The RTI response and the issue followed has given an edge to the opposition. The leaders of Congress have started raising this debate on Social media. Ajay Rai, the former Congress MLA from Varanasi and opponent to Narendra Modi in Loksabha 2014 has told media that it is unfortunate that MP has not spent a single penny in developing the village he has adopted. Rai further said, “Most of the works done by the private companies in these villages are to please Narendra Modi, rather make the villages modern,” he told TwoCircles.net.
Following the RTI revelation, the heads of the adopted villages are refraining to talk to media on the issue, but locally, in the constituency of Narendra Modi, the issue has created a negative vibe for the leading party.
The MPLADS fund, worth Rs 5 Crore per year, can be utilised anywhere in the constituency of an elected MP. But the opposition voices in Varanasi are accusing Modi of not setting an example before other MPs by not spending his own fund for development.
Manoj Rai Dhoopchandi, a leader from Samajwadi Party and former Minister of State during the Samajwadi Party regime in Uttar Pradesh, said, “See, if people love someone, they wish to do things for them. The same applies here. Corporates and big industrialists love Narendra Modi so they carried out in the villages adopted by him.
“But by allowing the same, PM Modi did not set an example before other Member of Parliaments. If he would have conducted so many works with his MPLADS funds, other MPs would be motivated. So, he forgot to set an ideal working procedure for other MPs while creating an ideal village,” he added.
Related pieces over Modi’s ideal villages:
http://twocircles.net/2015dec04/1449203727.html
http://twocircles.net/2017mar07/405925.html
http://twocircles.net/2017mar04/405755.html