PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao charged Lt Governor Kiran Bedi of incurring additional expenditure, putting a strain on the finances of the Union Territory. According to Rao, the expenditure of Raj Nivas has doubled after Kiran Bedi assumed charge as Lt Governor in May 2016.
"The expenditure which was hovering at just around 3 crores from 2010 and Rs 3,27,24,751 in 2015-2016 has risen to Rs 6,19,11,979 in 2019-2020," said Rao presenting an RTI copy from Raj Nivas .
The minister said that by engaging a retired IAS officer as her OSD and getting his services extended further, instead of appointing a present one, the salary of more than one lakh per month to him is causing a huge strain.
As the post of the Secretary to the Lt Governor has been kept vacant to avail services of OSD , there is no representation of the Lt Governor's secretary in cabinet meetings, since an OSD is not authorized to participate for he/she is not a government official. "Are any of the 23 IAS officers posted in Puducherry not qualified to hold the post of Secretary? Why is there an additional expenditure?" asked Malladi Krishna Rao.
Further Raj Nivas has been incurring additional expenditure towards the salary of personnel appointed for the publicity of Lt Governor and posting on social media. "No other Lt Governors in the past have made such expenditures and have stuck to the personnel of Raj Nivas PRO office and Department of Information and Publicity," he said.
Releasing another RTI data from the Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) Rao further alleged that Volvo buses of PRTC were used by Raj Nivas on six occasions during 2018 to 2019 for field visits by cancelling their regular operation on the routes they serve.
"This was on oral instruction from Lt Governor’s office and was not on hire basis," he said quoting the RTI reply. "The Corporation is already struggling to pay salary to its staff as the Lt Governor had mandated that Corporations have to run on their own income. Now PRTC not only lost its earnings but also made additional expenditure," he added .
He alleged that some officials in Raj Nivas were illegally raising funds through donations in cash and kind and sought a CBI probe into it.
Reacting to Tao's allegations, LG Kiran Bedi said that no God fearing person would say all that the minister has said. "However all this does not cause any distraction at all in the determination of Raj Nivas in serving Puducherry with utmost integrity and commitment", said Bedi.
On the other hand, she requested the minister that at this time of crisis, one should remain focused on ensuring life and livelihood for the people of Puducherry as his first priority.