DNA: New Delhi: Wednesday, 15 July 2015.
In the past
three financial years, the expenditure on president Pranab Mukherjee's secretariat
has increased by one third.
A Right to
Information (RTI) query to president's office by applicant Mansoor Umer Darvesh
revealed that in 2012-13 the expenditure on president's secretariat under Major
Head, Appropriation-Staff, Household and Allowances of the president was
Rs30.96 crore. The following year, it increased to Rs38.70 crore. During the
last fiscal 2014-15 it shot up to Rs41.96 crore.
President
Mukherjee had taken charge in July 2012 as the 13th President of India. There
are a total of 754 people working in the president's secretariat, of which 9
are private secretaries, and 27 are drivers.
The salaries
of the staff at the secretariat come to a sum of over Rs1.5 crore. "Total
salary of all employees of the president's secretariat for the month of May
2015 is Rs1,51,48,958," read the RTI reply.
Whereas
monthly telephone bills are over five lakhs rupees. In May 2015 the telephone
bill was Rs5,06,531.
"I had
even sought details about the total number of security staff deployed as well
as expenditures incurred on electricity. But details on the same has not been
provided with by Central Public Information Officer Shakil Alam at the
secretariat," said Darvesh.
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