The Telangana government has come under fire from opposition parties for purchasing 32 high-end SUVs for IAS officers amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The Telangana government has come under fire from opposition parties for purchasing 32 high-end SUVs for IAS officers amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The KIA Carnivals were handed over to 32 additional collectors after they finished a review meeting with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragati Bhavan.
The state government had earlier provided Toyota Innova Crysta vehicles to bureaucrats and Toyota Fortuners to cops for their use.
BJP has called the purchase of luxury cars a “criminal splurge of public exchequer” by CM KCR to “appease bureaucrats”.
“How can CM KCR justify spending over Rs 11 crore to buy 32 ultra-luxury vehicles for additional collectors in Telangana? The CM is indulging in this massive wastage of public money in the middle of a dangerous pandemic, while many poor people are dying of debt due to Covid hospitalisation bills,” said BJP leader Krishnasagar Rao.
The saffron party pointed out that Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao recently said that the state had lost massive revenue because of lockdowns and wanted increased FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) limits to raise more loans.
Congress, too, lashed out at the ruling dispensation, saying that the money would have been better spent providing hospital beds and free treatment to the poor.
“KCR has pushed the surplus state of Telangana into a debt trap with a whopping debt of Rs 4,000 crore,” alleged AICC spokesperson Dr Sravan. “On top of that, when the state is in a serious financial crisis due to Covid, KCR has the audacity to buy 30 Kia luxury cars with a cost of Rs 30 lakh as gifts to his additional collectors. They already have government cars in good condition, why buy new cars in this crisis,” he questioned.
The party alleged that the TRS government does not have money to ramp up the state’s health infrastructure and condemned the purchase as “completely unacceptable” and a “misuse of public money”.
Meanwhile, activists have also questioned the decision of the KCR government.
“The state has no more than 650 ambulances under 108 service for four crore citizens i.e. approximately one ambulance for 60,000 citizens. Yet the CM hands out 32 cars of almost Rs 31 lakh each in the name of administration, costing Rs 9.2 crore. A high-end ambulance costs Rs 16 lakh,” said social activist Vijay Gopal.
