In a very popular ad of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism, the narrator invites people to visit the State by saying, “Hindustan ka dil dekho” (watch the heart of India). It seems, however, that the heart of India has become quite heartless of late. In a State where thousands of children died in the year 2012 due to malnutrition, the State Government spent Rs9,265 daily on procuring mouth watering refreshments for its Ministers and officers in official meetings.
In a shocking revelation that has come to light through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, it has been found that State Government’s Ministers and officers guzzled refreshments worth Rs34 lakh in the year 2012 in various meetings conducted at the Vallabh Bhawan in the State capital.
The information was provided by the Government to RTI activist Ajay Dubey who had filed an application seeking the information in December last year.
“Although the Government has provided the information, more information has been deliberately withheld. The information of the exact numbers and names of all the ministers and the officers who availed the costly treat at the expense of common taxpayers has not been provided,” Dubey said on Sunday. Further, there are possibilities that this gluttonous eating involves much more murky business than apparent superficially. As Dubey points out, “There are numerous bills that do not bear any date. It is very questionable that lakhs of rupees have been transacted without proper records!”
“Several bills show that payments in name of official meetings have been done even in the last week of December when most of the senior officers are on leave. Who was taking the meetings when officials are on leaveIJ” Dubey asked. The answer to his question is not known as the name of the ministers and officers has not been revealed in the information provided.
“Besides this, there is yet another suspicious angle to this matter. It has been a common knowledge that crores of rupees are spend on the ministers and officers in name of medical allowances. It is quite amazing that these ministers and officers who spend so much on treatment have no control on eating,” Dubey further remarked.
It is interesting to note that the bills show large expenditure on mouth watering items like shree-khand, flavoured milk and lassi apart from other stuff.