AAP, BJP exchange fire over MLA LAD funds
New Delhi: AAP on Tuesday accused BJP govt of dealing a blow to development works in the city by slashing the MLA Local Area Development (MLA LAD) Fund from Rs 15 crore to just Rs 5 crore.
AAP-Delhi convener Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed at a press conference that during his party's govt, MLAs got Rs 15 crore as MLA LAD Fund and were able to complete all essential works in their respective constituencies. Calling it a "blatant falsehood", Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor challenged Bharadwaj to specify the year when Kejriwal govt allocated Rs 15 crore as MLALAD funds.
Bharadwaj, however, said the MLAs then used Rs 15 crore annually for "urgent,
local development works
" that improved people's day-to-day lives.
He said BJP govt increased the annual budget from Rs 70,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore for 2025-26. "By that reasoning, the Rs 15 crore should have gone up to Rs 25 crore. But instead, BJP govt slashed the allocation to just Rs 5 crore. This reveals their dishonesty," he pointed out.
The former MLA claimed that the assertion that the fund was being wasted was an outright lie and it was fully utilised. He alleged that last year BJP had deliberately intervened and several projects were blocked.
by Taboola
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Kapoor claimed that the MLA fund between 2015 and 2018 was merely Rs 4 crore, which was increased to Rs 10 crore in 2018-19. "But even that amount was never actually disbursed. In Oct 2024, then CM Atishi passed a proposal to raise the fund to Rs 15 crore, but it was never implemented."
He added, "Official records confirm that in 2018-19, govt announced the increase in the MLA fund to Rs 10 crore, but only Rs 4 crore was actually allocated. In 2019-20, Rs 4 crore were allocated, which was reduced to zero due to the pandemic in 2020-21 and increased to Rs 4 crore in 2021-22 and 2022-23." In 2023-24 and 2024-25, Rs 7 crore was announced, but most MLAs couldn't utilise it, Kapoor alleged.
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