Hyderabad: In the run-up to the elections, the government will release Rs 5,000 crore from the Chief Minister’s Special Development Fund within two weeks to facilitate developmental works in all Assembly constituencies before the model code of conduct is enforced, official sources in the CMO said.
With the Election Commission of India expected to notify the Assembly polls on October 6, BRS MLAs are making a beeline to the Chief Minister’s office to seek funds. MLAs, after exhausting their Constituency Development Fund (CDF), are seeking funds under SDF, with the state government allocating Rs 10,000 crore in the Budget.
The BRS government had hiked CDF for MLAs from Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore from 2021-22, on par with the MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme).
MLAs did not receive CDF funds as the state government imposed restrictions citing an economic slowdown in 2019-20 and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Due to this, MLAs could not take up developmental activities.
Although the MLAs receive Rs 5 crore on paper, they are left with only Rs 2 crore as the state government made it mandatory for MLAs to spend Rs 3 crore on beefing up infrastructure in government schools under the ‘Mana Ooru-Mana Badi’ programme. The government is directly deducting Rs 3 crore from CDF funds and allocating only Rs 2 crore to MLAs, sources said.
With this, MLAs were grappling with a shortage of funds as several works that were launched earlier were pending due to non-payment of bills to contractors. Most of the villages and towns in Assembly constituencies are facing infrastructure issues, such as bad roads and inadequate drainage systems, due to which there is strong demand from locals to improve the conditions.
With Assembly polls nearing, MLAs are under pressure to complete pending projects, as well as meet voters’ fresh demands.
