Of late, "Austerity" has been the buzz word in government circles. Our central government, the Finance Minister in particular, has been trying to introduce various measures which cut unnecessary government expenditure. These steps include - ministers flying economy class, staying in official residences, etc.
Even with all these in place, the FM must realise that the government is doing precious little to save costs. The money which elected representatives make would envy any businessman/CEO in the world. In addition, they enjoy many perks including exorbitant DA, TA, telephone allowance, etc etc. Add to this, the yearly MPLAD and MLALAD funds which the representatives must ideally use for development works in their constituency. How much of this reaches the people who faithfully elected them is a million dollar question.
All of this is legal money. One can only wonder what is the illegal wealth which each one has amassed.
The latest slap on the face of austerity is by our Karnataka's ministers. Not surprisingly, our CM is leading from the fore front. He has spent 2 crores to renovate his official bungalow and a mind blowing 35 lacs to renovate just one bedroom!! Other ministers have spent anywhere between 10 lac and 80 lacs for their house renovation. And mind you, all these are official bungalows which they need to vacate when they lose power. The next person will redo everything according to his whims by spending an even higher amount of money. I feel sick when I realise that the money these people spend belongs to tax payers like us, who struggle all our life to have a decent livable house.
I can only wonder about the audacity of our politicians who are spending crores on frivolous reasons when lakhs of people are suffering due to floods in north karnataka. No wonder politics is the profession of choice for many people, today.
Even with all these in place, the FM must realise that the government is doing precious little to save costs. The money which elected representatives make would envy any businessman/CEO in the world. In addition, they enjoy many perks including exorbitant DA, TA, telephone allowance, etc etc. Add to this, the yearly MPLAD and MLALAD funds which the representatives must ideally use for development works in their constituency. How much of this reaches the people who faithfully elected them is a million dollar question.
All of this is legal money. One can only wonder what is the illegal wealth which each one has amassed.
The latest slap on the face of austerity is by our Karnataka's ministers. Not surprisingly, our CM is leading from the fore front. He has spent 2 crores to renovate his official bungalow and a mind blowing 35 lacs to renovate just one bedroom!! Other ministers have spent anywhere between 10 lac and 80 lacs for their house renovation. And mind you, all these are official bungalows which they need to vacate when they lose power. The next person will redo everything according to his whims by spending an even higher amount of money. I feel sick when I realise that the money these people spend belongs to tax payers like us, who struggle all our life to have a decent livable house.
I can only wonder about the audacity of our politicians who are spending crores on frivolous reasons when lakhs of people are suffering due to floods in north karnataka. No wonder politics is the profession of choice for many people, today.
