Hyderabad: The Centre has informed the TS planning department that there was no provision to release funds pertaining to the previous financial years in 2020-21. The Centre was responding to a letter from Planning Board vice-chairman B. Vinod Kumar, seeking release of pending bills for works under MPLADS when he was Karimnagar Lok Sabha member.
The deputy director of MPLADS stated that funds for the scheme for 2020-21 had been placed at the disposal of the Union finance ministry for managing the impact of Covid-19. The Union Cabinet had decided not to operate the MPLADS for 2020-21 and 2021-22 and there was no budget head available to release outstanding installments, including those from the previous years.
Responding to the Centre’s reply, Vinod Kumar said that after delaying the release of MPLADS amounting to Rs 150 crore under 16th Lok Sabha for the 2014-19 term, the Centre was refusing to release the amount.
He said he had written to Union minister of state Rao Inderjit Singh pointing out that the Cabinet had decided not to operate the MPLADS for two years but had not taken a decision on the expenditure incurred by the 16th Lok Sabha members.
“Small contractors who executed these works are suffering a lot due. I requested the Union minister to release the pending amount at the earliest,” Kumar said.
