IAS officer’s house facelift: Facing flak, Chandigarh admn halves spending to ₹12L

While around ₹12 lakh were allocated for repairs, ₹14 lakh were to be spend on new additions

After facing flak for its plan to spend ₹26 lakh on the renovation of a government house in Sector 16, the UT administration has revised the planned expenditure to ₹12 lakh.

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Hindustan Times on August 10 reported that the UT engineering department floated a tender of ₹26 lakh for repair and renovations o a house recently allocated to a senior Punjab-cadre Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer of the principal secretary rank. An IAS officer from Haryana cadre was living in the house since 2012 and vacated it upon retirement.

While around ₹12 lakh were allocated for repairs, ₹14 lakh were to be spend on new additions.

“Now, the administration has decided that keeping in view of austerity measures, the plan for additional constructions should be scrapped. The department will now undertake only repair works,” said an official of the engineering department, requesting anonymity.

The administration to compensate its revenue loss in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic had announced a slew of austerity measures for all of its departments. Now, projects can only be taken up if approved by the administration as priority. Two months of the lockdown cost the administration ₹342 crore in forgone tax collections.