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Why enhance CDF of legislators? 6/18/2016 11:55:17 PM Abodh Sharma ET Report JAMMU, June 18: With hundreds of crorers received by the state under various centrally sponsored schemes remaining unspent and unutilized every year, the legislators sunk their bitter political differences and jointly called on the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to seek hike in their Constituency Development Fund (CDF) the previous day. Voices have been raised from time to time to abolish the practice of keeping huge public money at the disposal of legislators in the name of CDF, which many believe is means of blatant politician-contractor nexus and vilification campaign against the residents of areas which did not vote in favour of the sitting MLA. "The entire idea of allocating huge public money to the legislators is a farce especially when state government fails to utilize allocated funds under various schemes of public welfare" said a retired government officer. "The political workers and close aides of the MLAs/MLCs in nexus with chosen contractors siphon off big chunk of these funds despite several checks put in place in the system" he added. "It is an open secret that if you have a proposal to get a work done under CDF, first your political affiliation shall be scrutinized and then the engineers of the department concerned shall pay a cut out of the estimated cost of the work to the close aides of the legislators" he added further. 122 legislators of J&K (MLAs/MLCs) including presiding officers of both the houses presently get CDF worth Rs 1.5 cr each for the development works in their respective constituencies, which at the present rate, amounts to Rs 9 cr for each legislator during his 6 year term. The demand for increase in the CDF from existing 1.5 cr to Rs. 2 cr each gained momentum after the centre raised the Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds of the MPs to 5 cr. While a group of legislators called on the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti the previous day with the demand, Speaker Kavinder Gupta has reportedly written to the State Government for enhance the CDF of legislators as demanded. Those averse to the idea of CDF for its selective utilization argue that such huge amount which is placed at the disposal of legislators for their political appeasement should be added to the budgetary allocations of various departments for better and in- discriminatory utilization. "CDF or MPLAD funds promote corruption and discrimination and should be stopped forth with. Former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had once said in the State legislative Assembly that the CDF should be replaced with a more transparent system of carrying out development works" said a former senior engineer of R&B. Meanwhile, the legislators are demanding much more than just a raise in their CDF; their demands include geometrical hike in pay and allowances.   Share This News with Your Friends on Social Network     Comment on this Story

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