The
Times of India: Vadodara: Saturday, October 13, 2012.
Gujarat chief
minister Narendra Modi, who recently criticized UPA chief Sonia Gandhi for not
revealing her foreign tour expenses, is facing criticism for not disclosing his
own expenses for yet another time.
Activist
Rohit Prajapati had filed an RTI application in April this year and sought
information on the expenses incurred on the Swami Vivekananda Youth Employment
Week during which Modi handed over appointment letters to 65,000 youth across
the state.
Another
activist Trupti Shah too had criticized Modi about 10 days ago for not
revealing his traveling expenses during the Women Empowerment Sammelans
organized in 2007. She has been waiting for the reply for last five years.
Modi's attack on Sonia had, however, fizzled out after the Hisar-based RTI
activist refuted his claims regarding the Rs 1,800 crore-figure spent on
Sonia's foreign tours.
Prajapati had
asked 18 questions about the employment week to the chief minister's office
(CMO). It included queries about posts and benefits given to the youth,
security arrangements, number of government employees pressed in for the organizing
the event, copies of advertisements done during the period and expenses done on
Modi, his ministers, MLAs and MPs during the programme.
"While
they answered to other questions, the state government didn't reply to the
query related to the expenses done on Modi and his ministers. Our RTI
application was forwarded to all the districts but the concerned authorities
stated that the travelling expenditures of the CM, ministers, MLAs, MPs and
others were not incurred them," Prajapati told TOI.
"It is
obvious that some department must have incurred expenses or someone must have
sponsored it. Its six months since I filed the RTI but I am yet to get reply
regarding the expenses. Modi had also travelled by helicopter to some
places?" questioned Prajapati.
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