From L to R: Shekhar Singh, Mrinal Pande, Shailesh Gandhi and Amitabh Mukhopadhyay at the public meeting


Citizens will monitor local area development funds of MLAs and Councillors

In two recent landmark orders, the Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to install boards in every ward of Delhi displaying expenditure details of local area development funds of the MLA and Councillor of that area. As per the orders, details of the expenditure incurred in the current year and the previous year have to be provided on these boards in Hindi.

A public meeting was held on the 2nd of April to discuss these landmark orders and to form a network of individuals and groups across Delhi to monitor the compliance with these orders. The local area development funds of MLAs and Councillors have been increased in the recently passed budget. Now MLAs in Delhi will be able to recommend works for upto Rs. 4 crores every year and the Councillor fund has been increased to Rs. 1.55 crore. With the increased allocation, now every year over Rs. 700 crore will be spent through the local area development funds of elected representatives in Delhi.

The Commission’s orders are in response to complaints filed by Satark Nagrik Sangathan.

At the public meeting, over 300 people from 30 constituencies of Delhi were present. People talked about the importance of these orders which would ensure that for the first time information on the utilization of these development funds would be put up in the public domain in Hindi and would be accessible for common people. Residents of Moti Lal Nehru Camp, a slum settlement in Munirka said that when they realized that their MLA gets Rs. 2 crore to spend on local area development, they collectively approached the MLA and demanded that he spend his local area development funds to provide water pipes in the slum. “As we had information about the LAD funds, the MLA was unable to make any excuses and therefore sanctioned funds for new water pipes. However, the pipes were laid down in only half the slum and the work was never completed. When we used the RTI Act to access details of the work, we realised that pipes had to be laid down in the whole camp and the work should have been completed 3 months ago. This just shows that unless people have information on how the local area development funds are being utilized, there will be gross misuse and corruption” said Holiram and Kusum from the slum camp. Similarly, residents of other areas such as Malviya Nagar, Dwarka, Trilokpuri, Bawana, Najafgarh and Seema Puri also testified about how they don’t have information about what these funds, meant for the development of the local area, are spent on.

At the meeting, several interested individuals and representatives of organisations working across Delhi committed to forming a state-wide network to monitor the boards that are to be put up in compliance with the orders of the CIC. “This kind of information is critical for people and we will check the boards in our area to ensure that they are properly maintained and updated” said Mr. Om from NGO MRYDO.

Shailesh Gandhi, the Central Information Commissioner who issued the orders directing the Delhi Government and the MCD to install boards displaying the details of local area development funds was present at the meeting and encouraged people to monitor the boards that will be installed in their wards. “Citizens have to be vigilant and monitor the information that the Government proactively provides.” In his orders, Mr. Gandhi had taken a strict view of the violation of the RTI Act by the Delhi Government and the MCD, and had directed the Chief Secretary of Delhi and the Commissioner of the MCD to ensure that these boards are put up in every ward of Delhi by the 15th of March 2011. The Delhi Government and MCD were required to send compliance reports by the 25th of March. While the Delhi Government has requested the Commission to grant them two months for complying with the orders, the MCD has not yet submitted a compliance report. At the meeting, people handed over a complaint- signed by over a 1000 citizens- to Mr. Shailesh Gandhi demanding that similar boards should also be put up giving details of the projects on which MPs in Delhi are spending their local area development funds.

Members of the panel at the public meeting included- Mrinal Pande- eminent journalist and chairperson of Prasar Bharti, Amitabh Mukhopadhyay- Director General (Training and Communication), CAG, Shekhar Singh- a noted leader of the RTI movement, Rameshwar Prasad- a MLA from Bihar, Saikat Datta- eminent journalist, Ramakrishna Raju- co-convener, National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information. The panellists spoke about the orders issued by the CIC and the need for transparency and public disclosure to ensure that the funds are properly utilized. Amitabh Mukhopadhyay, said that the recently released report of the CAG on MP local area development funds pointed towards corruption and misuse of the funds and felt that the boards, that are to be installed as per the CIC orders, could become a very useful means of ensuring effective utilization of these funds through citizens monitoring.

Click below to read some of the reports on the public meeting that appeared in the media-

Report in the Hindustan Times                                     Report in The Hindu