Guwahati, 4 Apr: The BJP government in Assam Tuesday rejected in the Assembly an opposition parties’ demand for increasing the MLA local area development (MLALAD) fund to Rs three crore per year from the existing Rs one crore.
Raising the demand, lawmaker Jakir Hussain Sikdar of the Congress in a private member resolution in the Assembly said overall prices of all products have gone up exponentially since the MLALAD fund was fixed at Rs one crore.
“We cannot do much development work with Rs one crore. It should be made at least Rs three crore,” he said and gave examples of a number of states, including BJP-ruled ones, where the MLALAD fund is higher than that in Assam.
Sikdar also urged the government to set up an MLA office and appoint one officer in every constituency to receive public complaints.
He was supported by other opposition parties such as AIUDF, CPI(M) and an Independent who demanded that the increase in MLALAD should be affected from the current financial year itself.
Rejecting the resolution, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika said there have been allegations of misuse of the fund in many legislative and parliamentary constituencies of the state.
“However, as all opposition parties have demanded to raise it, respecting their sentiment, I will request the chief minister to consider it in future. (PTI)
But at this moment, there is no plan to increase it,” he said.
The government spends a lot of money through its various schemes in developing all constituencies of the state, Hazarika added. (PTI)