Lucknow, Aug. 2 -- In its first meeting on Saturday, Uttar Pradesh's newly constituted multi-member committee on the MLA Local Area Development Fund (Vidhayak Nidhi) examined a wide-ranging set of demands from legislators, including increasing the annual allocation beyond the existing Rs.5 crore, excluding Goods and Services (GST) Tax from the fund and expanding the scope of expenditure for public welfare.

The 11-member committee, the first such panel constituted to exclusively review issues relating to the Vidhayak Nidhi, held its inaugural meeting under the chairmanship of UP assembly speaker Satish Mahana. Ten members attended the meeting, which was also attended by senior rural development department officials, including principal se...