Deccan Chronicle: Hyderabad: Monday, 21 July 2014.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony cost the government Rs 17.06
lakh, an RTI reply received from the Central Public Works Department has
revealed.
In a reply to
an RTI application filed by activist, Subhash Aggarwal, asking for the total
expenditure of the ceremony, the department stated that Rs 17.60 lakh was spent
on arrangements related to tents, stage, furniture and other related items for
the oath-taking ceremony held on May 26, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The
expenditure was incurred for all the 4,017 invitees that included the SAARC
committee leaders, business tycoons from across the country, actors and
religious heads.
However, as
per the official reply by the CPIO, other specific details couldn’t be revealed
because the expenditure on functions incurred by the spending units came from
the annual Budget allocated to respective head of accounts.
“I filed the
RTI asking for some specific details. However, only one of the 11 queries were
answered. I feel that the expenses when compared to the swearing in ceremonies
of CMs including Akhilesh Yadav is relatively less. Politicians should stop
splurging on such occasions,” Mr Aggarwal said.
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