Arvind Kejriwal wants all pending MLALAD work to be okayed within seven days

NEW DELHI: Unhappy with development projects under the MLALAD scheme being stuck at various stages of execution for the past few months, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday asked the urban development (UD) department to approve all pending work within a week.
Kejriwal also asked the department’s principal secretary to ensure that in the future, such proposals are not kept pending for more than three days.“Several works of critical public importance from MLALAD funds pending for several months. Public suffering…Issued directions today to UD to approve all pending works within a week from today. Henceforth, any work from MLALAD fund shall be approved within three working days by UD (sic),” Kejriwal tweeted.
In his note sent to the principal secretary, Kejriwal said that officers should keep a check on the movement of files to prevent any delay. In addition, a monthly status report shall be submitted by the secretary on the first working day of each month, indicating the names of officers responsible for any delay and the reason for it.
An MLA from Delhi is allowed to propose development work worth Rs 4 crore for his constituency under the MLALAD scheme each financial year. This money can be spent on construction of roads, brick-lanes, laying new water pipelines, development of parks, and other such works.
Sources said there are close to 1,300 proposals sent by MLAs that are awaiting final approval from the UD department. The work is proposed by the MLA to the executing agency, which sends an estimate to the UD department for approval and sanctioning of funds.
Of the 1,300 proposals, said sources, about one-third have been returned to the executing agencies for rectification of plan. The remaining proposals are waiting for approval at various levels.
“To dispose of the pendency, principal secretary (UD) must ensure that all pending proposals under submission are processed and sanctioned within a week. Estimates, referred back to different departments/agencies for rectification, etc, are obtained back after removal of deficiencies, processed and sanctioned within one week,” the note read.
Kejriwal said the MLALAD scheme was of utmost importance as the projects undertaken through this scheme are aimed at providing better facilities to the general public. He said principal secretary (UD) “ought to have ensured” that all these proposals were processed in a time-bound manner. “But the high pendency of proposals point out the fact the due importance has not been accorded to this issue,” the CM added.