Telangana Issues New Guidelines For Utilisation of Constituency Development Fund

Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Monday issued new guidelines over utilisation of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) by the MLAs and MLCs following the creation of new districts in the state.

The government authorised respective district collectors, where the headquarter of the constituency is located, to release the CDF funds. If any portion of the constituency falls in more than one district, the works proposed by the MLA will be sanctioned by the collector of that area after obtaining details of the balance fund from the head quarter district. After formation of 21 new districts from the erstwhile 10 in the state, some MLAs' constituencies have spread over two and three districts. Hence, there was a confusion among the elected representatives over utilisation of their funds. For instance, areas under Jagityal assembly constituency are now included in both Jagityal and Peddapally districts. Similarly, Wanaparthy constituency areas are under both Wanaparthy and Mahbubnagar districts.

Until last year, the total CDF allotment was Rs 1.5 crore. It was doubled from this financial year by the government. Official sources said until last year (2015-16), MLAs could submit their proposals to the district collectors for 50% of the funds for any recommended project while the rest could be sought through incharge district ministers.

Telangana government allocates Rs 3 crore a year as Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to each of its MLAs and MLCs. This amount can be allocated by the public representatives for any developmental work in their constituency such as construction of school buildings, installation of CCTVs and road works and funds are then released by the collectors of respective districts.

In the case of MLCs, they could utilise their funds with the clearance of the finance minister since they do not have any specific constituency. However, from this year the government has removed incharge minister system for releasing funds under CDF. Similarly, MLCs, elected by MLAs and nominated by the governor, can submit their proposals directly to the planning department. MLCs elected by local authority representatives (corporators and other civic bodies) and graduate constituency have to give their proposals to district collectors.