The legislators from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are ready to pay their own income tax, but with a rider.
A day after Punjab Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues decided to pay their own income tax, the leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Sukhpal Khaira on Friday said that AAP MlAs are also willing to pay their own income tax provided Chief Minister takes genuine austerity measures to save the critical financial situation of Punjab and disbands his army of Advisors and OSDs.
Welcoming the cabinet’s decision to pay their own income tax, Khaira pointed that ‘charity begins from home’ and the Chief Minister must first set an example and disband the army of Advisors and OSD’s when he already has a top heavy bureaucracy available at his disposal.
Khaira said that there are 10 officers currently holding the scale of Additional Chief Secretary besides dozens of Financial Commissioners, scores of Administrative Secretaries etc. Why should the Chief Minister need 19 more people to advise him and assist him, when he has officers trained to run a government, asked Khaira.
“Similarly, the Chief Minister has also constituted many Commissions apart from the two dozen odd constitutionally constituted Commissions available. The Justice Narang Commission constituted to inquire into the infamous mining scandal has submitted its report to the Chief Minister on August 10, 2017, but nothing has been heard thereafter. After all lots of public exchequer money was spent on its working but without any tangible result,” said Khaira.
He said that similarly, the government set up the Punjab Governance Reforms and Ethics commission, and it’s been almost one year but we haven’t heard about any reform till now.
Khaira said that it appears that the said army of Advisors, OSD’s and Commissions are basically “to adjust the near and dear ones of the Chief Minister by offering huge largesse at the cost of public exchequer”.
“The logic handed out that the state will save Rs 11 crore if all MlAs and Ministers pay their own income tax is amusing. Compared to this, the monthly cost of 19 advisors, OSDs alone would be more than Rs 11 crore as many of them have been bestowed as Cabinet and Minister of State status, that entitles them to salary, TA, DA, bungalows, car, staff, security etc,” he said.
Khaira said that all unnecessary and unwanted expenses should also be cut down, only then the austerity measures being taken by the Chief Minister would look to be meaningful.