Corruption in use of MLA development funds, alleges NCP MLC

NCP legislator Kiran Pawaskar today alleged corruption and wastage in use of Local Area Development Funds of the MLAs.
Taking part in debate in the Legislative Council on corruption allegations against some of the ministers, Pawaskar said MLAs and MLCs get Rs two crore as development funds, while the MPs get Rs five crore.
"There are rules and regulations for utilisation of these funds. No e-tendering is required for works upto Rs three lakh. As per the due procedure, the MLA submits a proposal to the District Collector... The collector then issues a cheque to the labour societies," he said.

After taxes, this amount of Rs three lakh is reduced to Rs 2.25 lakh. The contractor gets 10 percent as his profit. "In the end, 32 per cent of the money goes in profits and taxes," Pawaskar said, alleging that for the remaining fund, "the contractor carries out only 50 percent of the work."
Thus half the money goes to waste, he added.
Most of the labour societies do not have any labour force and are controlled by politicians, he alleged.

These societies claim a chunk of the funds, he said.
Talking about corruption in general, he said in the last six months, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had caught 475 government employees, mostly from Revenue and Police Department, while accepting bribes. Most of the accused were from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's own constituency (Nagpur), he added.

Referring to Fadnavis's statement that he had zero tolerance for corruption, Pawaskar dared him to take action against him if the documents (on corruption) submitted by him were fake.