Chandigarh Tribune: Chandigarh: Monday,
August 08, 2016.
How far is
Chandigarh from Mohali? While the maximum distance is 18 km, it’s 175 km if you
go by the official car logbook of Forest Minister Chunni Lal Bhagat.
However, his
is not a solitary case. Information obtained recently from the Transport
Department by the RTI cell of the Aam Aadmi Party has revealed that it is a
common practice among Punjab Cabinet ministers to make unrealistic entries in
their logbooks.
As per the
information procured under the RTI Act, Bhagat travelled from Chandigarh to
Mohali and back on April 5, 2015. As per the logbook, the distance covered was
350 km. For his trip from Jalandhar to Kapurthala and back on April 7, 2015,
the distance was shown as 330 km (actually, it’s 42 km).
The Tribune
had earlier reported that Rs 34 lakh was spent in just 18 months (April 2014 to
October 2015) on the fuel of Bhagat’s two official cars, with each car
travelling almost 24,000 km in a month.
Irrigation
Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon travelled on May 5, 2015, from Chandigarh to
Mohali and back and his car’s logbook showed that the distance covered was 210
km. Two days later, he travelled from Ludhiana to Sahnewal and back. The
logbook again recorded 210 km. The Tribune had reported that Rs 29.48 lakh was
spent in 18 months on the fuel of Dhillon’s cars.
On June 28,
2015, Finance Minister PS Dhindsa travelled from Chandigarh to Panchkula, then
to Zirakpur and back to Chandigarh and the distance covered was 150 km. For a
Chandigarh-Mohali return trip, his logbook recorded 140 km.
On April 1,
2015, Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia travelled from Mohali to Zirakpur
and then to Chandigarh and his car covered a distance of 160 km, as per the
logbook.
During the one-and-a-half-year period, the
Transport Department spent around Rs 16 crore on the fuel bill of the CM, the
Deputy CM, other ministers and the 21 CPSes.
AAP’s RTI
cell co-convener Dinesh Chadha said the distance mismatch pointed towards a
scam. He demanded a probe by an independent agency into the “plunder of public
money”.