Port Blair, Mar 05: The Adhyaksha of the Zilla Parishad (South Andaman), Miss. V.K. Mariyam Bibi today soundly rebuffed the claim of Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament that the Zilla Parishad (SA) has to refund a sum of Rs.1.14 crores to the MP LAD fund.
According to information provided by the office of the MP, the amount claimed as refundable pertains to 19 works, of which 14 works were cancelled in 2010 because no progress had been made on these works. The amount released against these works, which was only the first installment of the agreed estimates, has already been refunded to the MPLAD fund.
Giving details of the amount received by the Zilla Parishad for carrying out works under the MPLAD Scheme, she clarified that the money claimed as refundable had been given for 19 works, some of which were approved as far back as 2003 when there was only one Zilla Parishad in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Many of the works for which the money was given are today completed works although the office of the MP is treating them as cancelled works.
“These works had been approved by former MP Shri Manoranjan Bhakta, but were sought to be cancelled by Shri Bishnu Pada Ray. This cancellation itself is a violation of the scheme under which the works were being carried out. Under provision 3.15 of the MPLAD Scheme guidelines, no Member of Parliament can cancel works approved by the former Member of Parliament during his tenure. The works that were cancelled sometime in 2010 were already in progress when they were cancelled and on the other hand the full amount that had been estimated for these works was never released by the office of the MP,” Mariyam Bibi claims.
According to MPLAD Scheme guidelines, it is envisaged that approval of any work presupposes availability of land for the purpose, and site should be handed over to the executing agency right away. However, the works were cancelled mostly for non-availability of land. This has been disclosed in the cancellation order itself. The money released against those works, has already been refunded to the Deputy Commissioner (South Andaman) for crediting to the MPLAD fund. Five of the nineteen works stand completed today, their construction having been initiated before the cancellation order was issued. The South Andaman, Zilla Parishad has been informing the office of the Deputy Commissioner about progress on these works from time to time. It is due to clerical oversight that these works are still categorised as cancelled works.
For the benefit of the public, these works have been completed by the Parishad inspite of the fact that the full amount of Rs.77,98,791/- sanctioned for the works by the District Administration upon recommendation of the MP was never released. Today these works stand handed over to the user agencies and are serving the public purpose for which they were conceived.
