In a meeting chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the eve of the monsoon session, Members of Parliament raised the issue of restoring MPLADS (Members Local Area Development Scheme), which was suspended last year for two years so that the government could . Use them in COVID-19 management efforts.
The MPs told the Speaker that without the MPLAD fund, they were “powerless and helpless in their own constituency”. The Speaker agreed to take up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said it needed time to restore it.
All MPs, PM Modi and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and President Ram Nath Kovind had taken a 30% cut due to the impact of COVID-19.
Several leaders including Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Trinamool Congress’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay, DMK’s TR Balu, BJD’s Rakhi Mishra, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Ritesh Pandey and YSR Congress’s Midhun Reddy attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, without naming Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay raised the issue of interference of governors in the functioning of the government, according to sources. Pointing to the strained relations between the Bengal Governor and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said it was not in line with the office of the Governor to engage in a constant war of words with the elected government.
The MPs also said that the government has listed too many bills for the monsoon session, leaving them not enough time to discuss urgent public matters.
The Speaker assured the leaders that he would do his best to ensure that every party gets ample opportunity to take up the matter they wanted. At the end of the meeting, PM Modi held informal talks with the leaders and said that everyone should work for a productive session of Parliament.
Monsoon session of Parliament will start from tomorrow. In an all-party meeting called by the government on Sunday, opposition parties raised important issues of farm bills, hike in prices – especially of petrol and diesel – and also demanded that the government bring reservation for OBCs in NEET.
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