KOZHIKODE: Ever since the LDF government assumed office, the dreaded words of “financial austerity” have reverberated across the corridors of power. But when it comes to the renovation and maintenance of ministers’ official bungalows, the government has been generous with the purse strings, spending nearly Rs 90 lakh for the purpose.
The details of the expenditure have come out at a time when the government is already under fire for buying expensive Toyota Innova Crystas for ministers and the huge medical reimbursement bills claimed by ministers.
As per the details provided by the government on an RTI application filed by RTI activist D B Binu, Rs 8.48 lakh was spent on curtain works at the official residences of nine ministers, while Rs 82.35 lakh was spent on maintenance works at the residences of all ministers.
With regard to curtain works, the highest amount of Rs 2.07 lakh was spent at Cliff House, the official residence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, followed by the residences of Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman (Rs 1.51 lakh), former Transport Minister Thomas Chandy (Rs 1.23 lakh) and Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran (Rs 1.21 lakh).
As per the information provided by the PWD, the most money spent on maintenance was at Xanadu Bungalow (Rs 13.18 lakh) when E P Jayarajan was the Industries Minister, followed by the residence of Kadakampally (Rs 12.42 lakh). The lowest amount was spent at the official residences of PWD Minister G Sudhakaran (Rs 33,000) and Education Minister C Raveendranath (Rs 39,351).
For maintenance and renovation of the Chief Minister’s official residence, Rs 9.56 lakh was spent. The amount spent at the Transport Minister’s official residence was Rs 2.27 lakh, while Rs 3 lakh was spent at the residence of Finance Minister Thomas Isaac.
The RTI information also shows that lakhs of rupees were spent at the residences of Ministers K Raju, E Chandrasekharan, J Mercykutty Amma, K T Jaleel, A K Saseendran and V S Sunil Kumar.
“There is a mafia operating hand in glove with the contractors, PWD officials and ministers’ staff to siphon off money in the name of maintenance works at the ministers’ residences,” said Binu. “Whether it is the UDF or LDF, lakhs of rupees are spent for beautification and maintenance works whenever a new government assumes office.
There should be a transparent system to monitor this as public money is washed down the drain. Above all, this extravaganza is taking place at a time when the government has called for tough financial restrictions.”
UDF govt had spent Rs 2.48 crore on renovation
Kozhikode: Maintenance and beautification works of ministers’ bungalows are a milch cow for a nexus in which contractors and PWD officers operate hand in glove. As per official records, all the bungalows undergo such works every time a new government comes to power. “Why have maintenance works become such a routine affair? Either the works are not properly done or they are doing unnecessary works just to clear the bills.
There is no proper accountability,” said RTI Kerala Federation president D B Binu. Records obtained through RTI show the previous UDF government had spent C2.48 crore for maintenance and beautification of the ministers official residences. “What happened to all the maintenance works carried out during the UDF regime? Why are successive governments spending huge amounts for such works when there is no money in the exchequer for constructing houses for homeless under various government schemes,” he asked.