Govt has no data of expenditure on winter session, reveals RTI query

Times of India: Nagpur: Tuesday, April 02, 2013.

The winter session of the state legislature in the Second Capital often makes citizens wonder as to how much the government spends on the whole exercise, which also disturbs normal life in the city to an extent. However, even as the centre of power shifts to Nagpur for over a fortnight each year, the government itself has never bothered to maintain any account of the amount spent on the session, reveals a Right To Information (RTI) query.

Apart from the legislature, the entire bureaucracy shifts to Nagpur during the winter session with setting up of a temporary secretariat here. Thousands of policemen are summoned from other parts of the state to maintain security. The assembly house and the CM's residence are spruced up and repair works are also undertaken during this period.

Consumer activist Mohammed Shahid Sharif had sought information on the expenditure incurred on all these works from the state legislature recently. In its reply, the legislature stated that the data is not available. "The expenditure is not compiled as several departments are involved in the process. There is also no separate provision of funds for holding the winter session," the legislature clarified.

The state legislature further said the data may have to be collected from various government departments and the RTI law provides for supplying only the information which is readily available. The agency which has been asked to provide the details need not collate the data from different sources to come up with the reply, the legislature added.

Expressing surprise over these revelations, MLA from south west Nagpur Devendra Fadvnavis said, "If the data on expenditure for the winter session is not available then it seems that there is no record of money spent on holding all the sessions. It should not be difficult since most of the funds are spent by the General Administration Department (GAD)." Fadnavis added that he would be taking up the issue with the speaker.

Ramtek MLA Ashish Jaiswal also criticized the government approach. "Account should be maintained as massive expenditure is done on transporting the whole machinery to Nagpur," he said.

Shareef calls it a callous attitude of the state government. "It shows that the state government is not serious about Vidarbha. The very objective of the winter session is to discuss the region's problems. The query had also sought details on the decision related to Vidarbha taken during the session. But the reply is silent on it too," he said.