Non-profit group releases ‘report cards' of MPs and MLAs
Bengaluru: CIVIC Bangalore, a non-profit focused on urban governance and decentralisation, released 'Citizen report cards' for the city's elected representatives - four MPs and 32 MLAs, in the city on Saturday. The report was released during an event 'Namma Neta Namma Review.' The report cards were put together by citizen volunteers and student interns at the organisations over the course of the last six months, using publicly available data sources such as Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly websites, Right to Information filings, and Local Area Development scheme dashboards, among other sources. A Krishna Prashanth, a volunteer, shared that only four MLAs have fully utilised the Rs 4 crore made available under the Karnataka Legislator Local Area Development Scheme (KLLADS) over two terms: S Raghu (C V Raman Nagar), Sharath Kumar Bache Gowda (Hosakote), Uday Garudachar (Chickpet), and B A Basavaraja (Krishnarajapuram). Only one-fourth of the MLAs have allocated more than 90% of the funds, and as a result, Rs 40.79 crore of KLLADS currently lie unspent.
Manjula S (Mahadevpura) has not allocated any of her KLLADS funds. Among the MPs, P C Mohan has allocated only Rs 47 lakh out of 5 crore made available in the current term — the lowest in comparison to the other MPs. C N Manjunath leads the other MPs in terms of fund allocations, having allocated Rs 6.3 crore, encompassing two years' worth of funds, mainly on bus shelters, community halls, roads and drainage. Tejasvi Surya has allocated 34.48% of his funds towards providing drinking water and 30.17% on public space development. Shobha Karandlaje's highest fund allocation, at 19.47%, was towards the education sector. While PC Mohan had the highest attendance (98.51%) among the aforementioned MPs, he only participated in one debate. However, Tejasvi Surya, whose attendance fell below the national average of 87%, standing at 77.61%, participated in 13 debates and asked 84 questions in the Parliament. Of the 84 questions, only six were centered around Bengaluru. Actor Prakash Belawadi was the chief guest at the event. He urged the citizens to hold their elected representatives responsible and organise protests when necessary.
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