Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was finally seen attending Parliament proceedings in Rajya Sabha after facing flak for being missing from the House.

The star cricketer was in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, two days after Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal questioned the absence of nominated members and asked Tendulkar and actress Rekha to resign rather than being absent continuously.

Tendulkar sat and heard the debate, but did not participate in any of the proceedings. Apart from Tendulkar, boxing star Mary Kom was also present in the Upper House.

Tendulkar and Rekha have the lowest attendace among the 12 nominated members in Rajya Sabha.Tendulkar has attended only 23 of the 348 days since his nomination in 2012, and Rekha has been present on only 18 days.

Tendulkar and Rekha are among the 12 nominated members in the Rajya Sabha. Industrialist Anu Aga; lawyers K Parasaran and KTS Tulsi; social worker Sambhaji Chhatrapati; journalist Swapan Das Gupta; actress Roopa Ganguly; economist Narendra Jadhav; boxer MC Mary Kom; actor Suresh Gopi and politician Subramanian Swam are the other nominated members in Rajya Sabha.

Four of the nominated members joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and are counted as BJP members in the house. A nominated member has a choice of joining a political party within the first six months of being nominated.

While his attendance might not be anything to boast about but the former cricketer has been using the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme to good use. Last year he gave Rs 70 lakh to a school in West Midnapore, West Bengal and spent Rs 2.79 crore for developing a village in Andhra Pradesh.

Ernakulam MLA Hybi Eden said he had made a request to Tendulkar for funds to help set up the digital X-ray machine and dialysis units at the hospital.

He said the legendary cricketer had written to Ernakulam district Collector to provide technical, financial and administrative sanctions to the project within 75 days.

"The sanctioned work should be approved and completed if they are compliant under the guidelines of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme," Tendulkar said in his letter sent to the Collector.

Ernakulam General Hospital was founded in 1845 by the erstwhile king of Kochi.Eden said Tendulkar's involvement in the development of the hospital would take the prestigious healthcare centre in the city to newer heights.

Tendulkar has also sanctioned Rs 25 lakh from the MPLAD scheme for setting up a digital X-ray unit at Ernakulam Government General Hospital in Kochi.