Union Minister Prakash Javadekar's announcement that MPLAD funds were being suspended for the next two years and would be diverted towards the Consolidated Fund of India and utilised to fight the novel coronavirus has not gone down well with everyone.
The Information and Broadcasting Minister had also announced that Members of Parliament would be taking a 30% pay cut, effective from April 1, for a year.
"The President, the Vice President, the Governors of the States have also voluntarily decided to take a pay cut as a social responsibility," he added.
Several opposition leaders including Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala have spoken out against the plan.
"Dear PM, INC supports the salary cut for MP’s!" wrote Surjewala.
He added that the MPLAD funds however were meant for the execution of developmental work within a Constituency.
"Suspending it is a huge disservice to the constituents and will undermine the role and functions of MP," he added.
Surjewala is not the only Congress leader to have criticised the Centre's decision. Earlier, Karti Chidambaram too had taken to social media to criticise the decision to cut MPLAD funds.
""This is totally unacceptable. These funds are absolutely necessary to fund local area development. Will oppose this arbitrary diktat," the Congress MP had written.
The consolidated amount of MPLAD Funds for two years is about Rs 7,900 crore. As per the new announcement, this money will now go to the Consolidated Fund of India.
There have been over 693 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. This had brought the total number of cases to over 4,000. The death toll has also crossed 100 as of Monday morning.
