KHNAM leader Thomas Passah has termed the MLA scheme as a source of freebies used by politicians to dupe voters.
Referring to the statement made by Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong during the campaigning in Sohiong constituency where he has stated that “the MLA scheme is meant to benefit only those voters/supporters who support the party/candidate during the election and that all 60 MLA are doing the same”, Passah said such statements coming from a Deputy CM makes it clear that the Rs 12.5 crore of each MLA as part of the scheme are used solely for freebies for political benefits, which is against the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.
“The objective of the MLA scheme is to create local need-based infrastructure, to create assets of public utility and to remove regional imbalances in development and not to promote political interest as done in the state of Meghalaya,” Passah told Highland Post.
KHNAM also said that most MLAs implement these schemes funded at the cost of the exchequer through a committee formed and headed by the MLA him/herself, which allows them to manage corruption through the scheme. Passah added, “When we talk about the MLA scheme in Urban areas, we have seen that the success of its implementation is very low, wherein the same work is being done again and again because the quality of work is very low thereby wasting the public money.”
He also alleged that the MLAs tend to save up the funds and spend them in the one year prior to an election. Passah thus said it would be better for the scheme to be done away with and all development funding routed through the Block Development Officer and/or district administration.
