India 2018

90 India 2018
their successful completion with improved efficiency at a greater speed and at
a lesser cost.
Infrastructure Monitoring
The monitoring of important infrastructure sectors in the country aims to provide
an overview of the performance and highlighting slippages, if any, before the
decision making authorities. This Ministry monitors the performance of the
country's eleven key infrastructure sectors, viz., power, coal, steel, cement,
fertilizers, petroleum and natural gas, roads, railways, ports, civil aviation and
telecommunications. The performance of these sectors is analyzed with reference
to the pre-set targets for the month and the cumulative period visa-vis
achievements during the corresponding month and cumulative period of the
last year.
Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme
The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) was
launched in 1993 to provide a mechanism for Members of Parliament to
recommend works of developmental nature for creation of durable community
assets and for provision of basic facilities including community infrastructure,
based on locally felt needs to be taken up in their constituencies/states. Initially,
the MPLADS was under the control of Ministry of Rural Development. The
subject relating to the MPLADS was transferred to the Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation in 1994. The scheme is governed by a set of
Guidelines, which have been comprehensively revised from time to time. The
present Guidelines were issued in June 2016.
Salient Features
The salient features of the MPLAD Scheme include:
a) MPLADS is a Central Plan Scheme fully funded by the Government of India
under which funds are released in the form of grants-in-aid directly to the district
authorities.
b) The funds released under the Scheme are non-lapsable, i.e. the entitlement of
funds not released in a particular year is carried forward to the subsequent
years, subject to eligibility. At present, the annual entitlement per MP/
Constituency is ` 5 crore.
c) Under MPLADS, the role of the Members of Parliament is limited to
recommend works. Thereafter, it is the responsibility of the district authority to
sanction, execute and complete the works recommended by Members of
Parliament within the stipulated time period.
d) The elected Lok Sabha Members can recommend works in their respective
constituencies. The elected members of the Rajya Sabha can recommend works
anywhere in the state from which they are elected. Nominated Members of the
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha can recommend works for implementation,
anywhere in the country.