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From honouring AAP leaders to five-star hotel stay, Punjab exchequer paid bills
Aam Aadmi Party spent ₹14.63 lakh of state funds on poll victory march in Amritsar even before CM Bhagwant Mann took charge: RTI reply
Sangrur: From honouring its senior leaders with gold-plated swords to arranging their accommodation in five-star hotels and decorating roads with flowers, the Punjab government, reeling under a fund crunch, spent ₹14.63 lakh on the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) victory march, Dhanwad Punjab Yatra, in Amritsar, according to information received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The march was taken out by the AAP on March 13, three days after it swept the Punjab assembly elections winning 92 of the 117 seats. AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and CM-elect Bhagwant Mann had led the grand road show. According to the RTI reply, the district administration of Amritsar had received a total of 19 bills for the party’s victory march and it paid ₹14,63,129.
Not what the party preaches
Mann was elected leader of the legislature party by the newly-elected MLAs on March 11, but he was yet to take oath as the chief minister at the time when the AAP dipped into the state exchequer to use its funds for the party’s victory march, said RTI activist Manik Goyal, who had filed the application for information on expenditure incurred on the event. Mann took the oath of office and secrecy at the swearing-in ceremony at Khatkar Kalan in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district on March 16.
Punjab’s finances have been in dire straits for years due to mounting debt, tepid growth and burden of freebies. Ironically, the AAP government, in a white paper tabled in the assembly on June 25, painted a grim picture of the state finances, blaming reckless spending and mismanagement by previous governments for the fiscal mess.
Welcome flex to confectionery arrangements
The Amritsar district administration paid ₹1,51,851 to clear four bills of Taj Swarna, a five-star hotel, ₹4,83,800 for decorating roads with fresh flowers, ₹75,000 for preparing the welcome gate, ₹5,56,424for arranging tents and chairs, ₹54,500 to drummers, ₹16,800 for bouquets of roses, ₹18,000 for purchasing phulkaris, ₹34,000 for buying four gold-plated swords, ₹45,398 for installing flex boards, ₹17,500 to videographers and photographers and ₹9,856 for confectionery arrangements, revealed the RTI reply.
Admn mum on buses used to ferry AAP workers
Goyal said that government buses were used to ferry people from different parts of the state to Amritsar for the victory march, but the district administration did not provide any reply on the expenses incurred on their transportation.
Amritsar deputy commissioner Harpreet Singh Sudan declined comment on the expenditure incurred on the March 13 road show. “I joined here in April and, therefore, I can’t comment on why and how this payment was made. It is the government’s prerogative to decide how, why and where to pay. The authorities act on the government’s directions,” he said.
When contacted, state finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “I will look into the matter immediately.”
AAP state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang was, however, evasive on the RTI reply and said: “I don’t know the authenticity of this information.”
