STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said the State Government has spent approximately Rs 2.84 crores on renovation of ministerial bungalows in both the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar. In addition Hospitality and Protocol Department spent Rs 18.03 lakh in Jammu and Rs 26.61 lakh in Kashmir in organising dinner/lunch and other official meetings hosted by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti between April 2016 to December 2016.
She said Rs 1.17 crores were spent in renovating the residential accommodations of ministers while Rs 1.64 crores were spent in Jammu region during the last two years. According to the details of expenditure, “Rs 16.19 lakhs were spent on renovation of CM’s official residence in Jammu.”
Highest amount of Rs 31.41 lakhs was spent on renovating Forest Minister Lal Singh’s residences in both the cities. He is closely followed by PDP’s Naeem Akhtar. Rs 28.79 lakhs were spent on renovating his bungalows in Jammu and Srinagar.
Deputy Chief Minister from BJP Prof Nirmal Singh spent Rs 25.56 lakhs while Health Minister Bali Bhagat spent close to Rs 20 lakhs on renovating both the houses.
CAPD Minister Zulfkar Choudhary spent 21.01 lakhs and Relief, Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister Basharat Bukhari spent Rs 17.64 lakh. Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu spent less than Rs 10 lakhs on renovating his residences in Jammu and Srinagar. BJP’s Sunil Sharma spent Rs 8.78 lakhs in Jammu and Rs 1.42 lakhs in Srinagar on renovating his residence. Industries minister Chandra Prakash Ganga spent Rs 7.72 lakhs in Srinagar and Rs 4.83 lakhs in Jammu during the same period. Estates department spent Rs 5.26 lakhs on Priya Sethi ‘s Jammu based residence while a sum of Rs 3.77 lakhs were spent on renovating her Srinagar residence.
When it comes to availing TA bills alliance ministers incurred total expenditure of Rs 20.09 lakhs during last two years. Deputy Chief Minister Prof Nirmal Singh claimed Rs 5.79 lakhs TA bills while Finance Minister claimed Rs 3.03 lakhs TA bills. The council of ministers incurred additional expenditure of Rs 24.21 lakhs on serving refreshments during the same period.
