Minister of State for Planning, Development and Monitoring, Ajay Nanda today informed the Legislative Assembly that MLAs are being closely associated with the development process and formulating plans and schemes to ensure holistic development in their respective constituencies. The MLAs represent and articulate the interests of the people of their constituencies in particular and State in general.Replying to a Question by Rajesh Gupta, the Minister said that the MLAs are Members of the District Development Boards (DDBs) and they are taken on board for finalization of Annual Plans, reviewing the Capex Budget and implementation of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes under the decentralized system of planning in the State.The concerned MLAs also facilitate removal of bottlenecks coming in the way of execution of projects and implementation of development programmes, are closely involved in the monitoring of CSSs at the district level through the institutional mechanism of monitoring Committee like DISHA, said the Minister. Choudhary Qamar Hussain, Bashir Ahmed Dar, Altaf Ahmed Wani and Rajeev Jasrotia raised supplementary questions and called for strengthening the institution of MLA. They also advocated for MLA’s involvement in important decisions to enable them to guard the interests of people in their respective constituencies in a better way.