Patna, April 10: The Bihar government has done away with the local area development (LAD) fund provided to legislators, but people will perhaps not feel the pinch of absence of Rs 318 crore which used to be routed to constituencies through LAD for various development work. The state government is working on chief minister area development plan (CMADP), which is being construed as a replacement for the LAD.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar recently conducted a review meeting and directed the officials concerned to complete the necessary formalities for early implementation of the plan.

Sharing details of the proposed plan, a senior government official told The Telegraph: “Unlike LAD, under which legislators concerned used to decide on the work to be carried out in their respective constituencies, the new plan would function in a more democratic manner. The selection of works would be done on the basis of recommendations made by a district-level committee to be chaired by in-charge minister of the district. Legislators representing the district would be the members of this committee and the district magistrate concerned would be its member secretary.”

The official said there would be several other in-built provisions in the plan to address the weak points of the LAD scheme. “Unlike LAD, under in which selection of agency for carrying out a particular work used to be the prerogative of the legislator concerned, works under the new plan would be awarded on the basis of competitive bidding.”

There would be a provision in the plan to ensure development in rural areas, where majority of the state population reside. Eighty-five per cent of the funds to be allocated to districts would be earmarked for projects in rural areas only.

“Under the LAD scheme people having proximity to the legislators used to get development works awarded to their respective areas. But the new plan would ensure that rural areas get priority under the development work,” said the official.

To ensure that the works done under these plan are good on the quality front, the government has decided to set up local area engineering organisation (LAEO), which would be entrusted with the task of implementation and monitoring of schemes taken up under CMADP.

“The process of deputing engineers in the LAEO would be set in motion soon,” said the official, adding that other formalities related to plan would also be completed shortly.

As regards the likely funds to be earmarked for the CMADP, the official said the allocation would be more than what used to be under the LAD.

“We are working out details to finalise the parameters on the basis of which funds would be allocated to districts. In all likelihood, area, population and concentration of SC/ST population in a given district would be the three parameters on the basis of which the districts would get funds,” added the official.