Nine SP, 1 BSP MP yet to adopt villages

The MPs who have not adopted any village include SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav, his son and Lok Sabha MP from Firozabad Akshay Yadav, Javed Ali Khan, Neeraj Shekhar, Kanak Lata Singh, Arvind Kumar Singh, Alok Tiwari, Chandrapal Singh Yadav and Chaudhary Munavvar Saleem. The tenth MP is BSP’s Satish Chandra Misra.

Javed Ali Khan said he will not adopt any village as the scheme is to “show off” and “for publicity”. “There are no incentives from the government for these villages. If we have to develop the village from our MPLAD funds, then why only one village? If we did adopt one village, the residents of that village will curse us for not doing enough, while those from adjoining villages will feel neglected,” he added.

Chandrapal Singh Yadav said he has not adopted any village because the government has no priorities fixed for these villages. “What has happened to the villages that were adopted (by other MPs)? I will not adopt to face questions from villagers,” he claimed.

On the other hand, Kanak Lata Singh said she has not been able to understand the outline of the model village under the scheme. “There are 1,500 villages in Deoria. How can I adopt one village? If the government can provide better price for a farmer’s crop and better seeds to sow, it will help. Construction of a hospital will help. But there is nothing of that sort in the scheme,” she said.

Arvind Kumar Singh, too, claimed the “Centre gives nothing for these villages”. “If I adopt one village, all other villages will resent it. No one can win an election from only one village. Even BJP MPs are complaining about it. I will not adopt at all,” he added.

Saleem, however, said he was going to adopt a village, but has not got time to do so.

In Jayapur, adopted by the Prime Minister in his constituency Varanasi, several projects have been taken up by government and non-government organisations. However, gram panchayat pradhans of nearly two dozen adopted villages told The Indian Express they are yet to see anything concrete taking place in their areas. They added that their demands for construction of schools, community health centres and roads are still to be acted upon.

Over two dozen MPs have only paid one or two token visits to their adopted villages, claimed village representatives. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP president Mayawati, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and SP MP Jaya Bachchan are yet to visit their adopted villages.