Details of expenditure of MPLADS funds by Rajya Sabha members show the lowest unspent funds are from some north-eastern states like Tripura, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh -- though this need not necessarily mean that they are good performers because the funds available with them are small compared to some of the big states.

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However, Rajya Sabha MPs from these states also show the highest utilisation over released funds -- those from Arunachal Pradesh showed 95.28 per cent utilisation over released funds; from Assam registered 92.6 per cent of utlization over released funds and projects cited by MPs from Tripura utilized 92.66 per cent of released funds.

The figures available in the summary details of expenditure as on March 28 put out by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation show that at Rs 402 crore, the Union Government released the highest amount to Tamil Nadu and had an 89.21 per cent utilisation.

Uttar Pradesh, for which the government released Rs 368.13 crore, had an unspent balance of Rs 109.36 crore, the highest in absolute terms among all states and 73.01 per cent utilisation over funds released.

At 58.03 per cent of utilisation over released funds, Uttarakhand performed the worst in this category.

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In terms of utilisation of funds, even Odisha performed poorly. It received Rs 110 crore from the government for development projects but could utilise only 71.28 per cent; as a result Rs 33.28 crore went unutilized.

Apart from the north-eastern states mentioned above and Goa, states that registered generally high per cent of utilisation over released funds are Chhattisgarh (89.90 per cent), Maharashtra (89.33), Kerala (88.86), Andhra Pradesh (88.77) and Karnataka (85.73 per cent).

For the record, and as clarified by the Ministry, under MPLADS, the role of MPs is limited only up to recommendation of works. Thereafter, it is the responsibility of the district authority concerned to sanction, execute and complete the works recommended by MPs within the stipulated time period. Besides, the exact figure for expenditure is available only with the district authorities.