Samajwadi MP demands scrapping of Saansad Gram Adarsh Yojana

Scrapping of the scheme was demanded due to lack of clarity on guidelines and funding

A Samajwadi Party member today suggested in Rajya Sabha that the Saansad Gram Adarsh Yojana initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be scrapped as there is no clarity on guidelines and funding to develop the village adopted under the scheme.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Naresh Agrawal said that MPs will find it difficult to visit their Parliamentary constituencies in next elections as while on one hand they are facing questions for adopting just one village in their area, there is no clear guideline or funding pattern to develop even that one village.

"If you are not doing all this, then the plan should be scrapped. You should not create a situation that MPs are scared of visiting their Parliamentary seats during polls..If I have opted out of it (the scheme), I did so to register protest," he said.

Agrawal said villagers are now asking questions from their representatives as to from where will the children get milk and clothes.

The villagers are under the impression that all these things will be taken care of since the scheme has been implemented with the initiative of the Prime Minister, he said.

Agrawal said since the only village that can be adopted under the scheme in a Parliamentary seat, the electorates in constituencies are now telling their representatives point blank to depend on votes from that particular village alone.

He demanded a reply from Leader of House Arun Jaitley, who was present in the House. "Leader of House should tell the MPs what policy they should follow," he said.

The Prime Minister had launched the Saansad Gram Adarsh Yojana in October last year under which the MPs from both Houses have to identify and develop one village as a model village by 2016, and two more by 2019, covering over 2,500 villages of the 6 lakh villages country-wide.

Agarwal also attacked the government over its 'Swachchata Abhiyan' saying a broom has been handed over to all and the hype was such that some ministers threw garbage themselves and then cleaned it up.

Members from most of the Opposition parties like CPI-M, CPI, Trinamool Congress, SP, BSP and JD-U shared the concerns of Agrawal.