A day after Kerala’s Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan got trapped in a controversy relating to the purchase of a pair of eyeglasses with Rs 49,900 drawn from the exchequer, information came out on Sunday about how Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac had spent lavishly from the State Treasury for the Ayurvedic therapy he had undergone in 2016 despite the fact that the State has been going through one of the worst financial crises it has ever faced.
Both the controversies followed another one triggered by Health Minister KK Shailaja who claimed Rs 28,000 as medical reimbursement for purchasing a pair of spectacles a few months ago. All the three are senior CPI(M) leaders: Sreeramakrishnan is a State committee member of the proletarian party while Isaac and Shailaja are members of its central committee.
The development has triggered widespread criticism that leaders of the CPI(M), party of the proletariat, tend to live in luxury once they get power. “It doesn’t surprise me. They don’t seem to care to live in proletarian simplicity when luxury is available at the cost of the people,” said a veteran CPI(M) leader, a former State committee member.
Isaac had received as reimbursement Rs 1,20,048 from the Exchequer for the 15-day Ayurvedic therapy he took at the private Arya Vaidya Sala at Kottakkal, Malappuram when the same ‘treatment’ was available almost free of cost at the Government Ayurveda Hospital situated within walking distance from his office in the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Marxist Finance Minister, who had on Friday advised the Government through the Budget to stop vehicle purchase, bring down telephone expenses, etc in order to tide over the crisis the State was going through, had spent Rs 79,200 as room rent for the 15-day therapy – from December 13 to 27, 2016 – the medicines for which had cost only Rs 21,990.
What is even more interesting is that he had drawn from the Exchequer as reimbursement even the cost of the pillows and ordinary Kerala bath towels– which reportedly cannot be included in the list for reimbursement as per the norms formulated in 1994. Isaac had also included food and soaps in the list submitted for reimbursement from the Treasury, as per information.
Speaker Sreeramakrishnan had found himself in the eye of a storm on Saturday after documents availed by RTI activist DB Binu showed that he had purchased a pair of spectacles for Rs 49,900 and got the amount reimbursed. He had also made the cash-starved Government pay him Rs 4,25,594 as reimbursement for his medical expenses for the 15 months since October, 2016.
“A peculiar situation is prevailing in the State where those in the Government are continuously claiming that they are duty-bound to maintain strict discipline in financial matters and people occupying crucial positions in the Government refusing to maintain that discipline when it comes to actual practice,” Binu pointed out.
The Speaker himself said that particular care had been taken while purchasing the eyeglasses not to violate the norm that reimbursement for the frame should not exceed Rs 5,000. The frame of his glasses cost Rs 4,900, just Rs 100 less than the upper limit but the lenses he bought cost Rs 45,000. “I had bought the spectacles on the basis of the doctor’s advice,” he said. Several Ministers have come out in support of the Speaker saying that he had committed no wrong.
Health Minister Shailaja, who used Rs 28,000 of public money for purchasing her eyeglasses, had also offered similar justification saying that the doctor had advised her to buy good-quality lenses instead of buying a cheaper set. She had drawn from the Exchequer Rs 3,81,876 towards expenses of medical treatment in about 18 months, allegedly using forged bills.