‘Against mandated 130 villages, Gujarat MPs adopted 106’

AHMEDABAD: The Adarsh Sansad Gram Yojana (Model MP Village Scheme) required every Member of Parliament (MP) to adopt five villages in their constituency and work towards making them model villages on certain parameters.
An application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act filed by Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP) found that against the required 130 villages (26x5) to be adopted by MPs in Gujarat, only 106 were adopted.
The RTI response from the state govt said no villages in Dang and Porbandar were adopted by the local MPs.
Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel officials said the rural development commissioner’s office and general administration department (GAD) monitors these adoptions and funds utilized by MPs.
“We asked for details of villages adopted, year-wise expenditure and progress reports. In one response, we were told to look for the details on the Saanjhi website of the government of India, but no reports were uploaded there,” an official said.
The response also said that development works in villages are covered under GDPD and are not audited separately. Only one village panchayat at Vanpari provided audited accounts. The Saanjhi website did not provide any progress report on works and the photo gallery showed similar photos with different names. The Saanjhi website has five case studies from Gujarat, with only one from the 2019-24 period.
“These can include vaccination, fighting malnutrition, organizing gram sabhas, working for backward classes and women and so on. But no work report has been provided on websites or any forums,” said the official.