Govt rules out increase in MPLADS amount

New Delhi, Dec 7: The government today ruled out increasing the amount of MPLADS fund saying its primary concern was accountability and transparency.

Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation, G K Vasan, said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour that 79.70 per cent of the funds sanctioned had been utilised and 60.87 per cent works had been completed.

Admitting that sometimes work did not take place, the Minister said the centre had asked state governments to constitute state-level monitoring committees to monitor the spending of the MPLADS fund.

Out of 34 states, 11 had already constituted the Committees while 10 or 11 states were in the process of constituting.

The Minister said he was having a review meeting on December 15 to discuss the setting up of such committees.

''The government is reviewing progress in every state,'' he added.

Asked whether there was any proposal to increase the limit of the MPLADS fund, Mr Vasan said ''there is no proposal under the consideration of the government to raise the limit of MPLADS.''

UNI