Rs 400 cr of legislators' fund unspent: Poojary

Members of the Legislative Council on Wednesday charged that the Department of Planning and Statistics was creating hurdles in effective utilisation of funds granted to MLCs under the Legislators Area Development Fund.

MLCs cutting across party lines urged the government to direct the department officials to ensure that the legislators got to utilise the funds sanctioned to them to improve basic infrastructure in gram panchayats. Leader of the Opposition Kota Srinivas Poojary said more than Rs 400 crore remained unspent.

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said he would convene a meeting of the MLCs and the Planning department shortly to sort out the issue. Gowda said the previous government had taken measures to strengthen local bodies, following the recommendations of the Ramesh Kumar committee.