Mumbai
Glaring discrepancies have emerged on the amount spent for the swearing-in ceremony of the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) last November, claimed RTI activists here on Wednesday.
While one activist Anil Galgali of Saki Naka was given the figure to be Rs.2.79 crore, another activist Ajay Bose of Sion was provided the expenditure details of Rs.4.63 crore.
In response to Galgali’s RTI plea, the information officer R. G. Gaikwad on Jan. 20 (2020) provided Rs. 2.79 as the expenditure incurred on the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his six ministers on Nov. 28, 2019, at Shivaji Park.
Surprisingly, the same officer – R. G. Gaikwad on Jan. 31 (2020) – informed Bose about the details of expenditure incurred for the same state event as Rs.4.63 crore.
Now, both are wondering which could be the genuine expenditure figure, why there is such a huge difference in two replies to the same query answered by the same officer from the same department.
“When the government department has not tabulated the figures properly, then why are they issuing confusing figures under RTI? The concerned heads must take strong action against the irresponsible officer providing misleading figures with such huge discrepancies,” Galgali said.
Incidentally, against the MVA government’s purported expenses on the oath-taking ceremony, on Oct. 31, 2014, the swearing-in ceremony of former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his team at Wankhede Stadium had cost a little over Rs.98 lakhs. (IANS)
