Gandhinagar: Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has taken an important decision to allocate an additional grant of Rs 2 crore to the MLAs of the municipal corporation areas of the state for various road works in their constituencies.
MLAs of Municipal Corporation area are given grants by Urban Development Department for construction of Cronkite, new asphalt roads, renovation of old roads, laying of paver blocks on roads in their constituency where asphalt road or concrete road cannot be constructed.
Apart from this grant from the Urban Development Department, the Chief Minister has approved an additional grant of Rs 2 crore per MLA from the Roads and Buildings Department grant for such works. A total of Rs 86 crore will be allocated by the Roads and Buildings Department for this purpose to 43 MLAs from municipal corporation areas of the state.
Opposition leader Amit Chavda questioned the Chief Minister's decision and said that contractors and contracts are given to build roads. The roads of those who build substandard roads get washed away in the rain. Crores of rupees are spent on repairing the dirt and potholes on the roads. Instead of giving a grant of Rs 2 crore to the MLAs to build new roads, punitive action should be taken against the contractors who build substandard roads using the public's tax money.