Bathinda: In a major embarrassment to the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in Punjab, RTI has revealed daily expenses on tea and snacks running in lakhs of rupees. An RTI activist Rajandeep Singh said that he had filed an RTI application with the Punjab government regarding the expenditure on tea and snacks by the AAP ministers for the month of July last year during their maiden tenure in the state.
In its reply to Singh's application, the Punjab government attached 180 bills of tea and snacks worth lakhs of rupees. Singh said that the average daily expenditure of tea and snacks in the ruling AAP government is about Rs 2.5 lakh. Singh said that from July 1 2022 to July 31 2022, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the ministers of the AAP government spent Rs 30 lakh rupees on tea and snacks in Chandigarh city alone.
Also read: 500 new Aam Aadmi clinics to be opened in Punjab on Republic Day
Likewise, during the meetings held on July 5 in the state, Rs 4 lakh was spent on tea and snacks, Singh said. The RTI activist further said that during the meetings held by the Chief Minister and the ministers at the Chief Minister's house and the Secretariat, Rs 8 lakh was spent on tea and water on July 4 alone.
Besides, during the meeting held by the Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhawan with the MLAs on 9 July 2022, Rs 1.20 lakh was spent on tea and snacks, he added. Rajandeep Singh said that from July 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022, about 30 lakh rupees were spent on tea and pakodas by the Chief Minister and ministers in Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, he said the highest bill for a day is Rs 9 lakh and the lowest bill for a day is Rs 200 for tea and snacks. Singh said that the ministers of the Aam Aadmi government were feasting on the taxes paid by the ordinary people. He alleged that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party's government departments are removing their departmental details from the RTI portal and still if a response is sought through RTI by an RTI activist, there is no instant reply with common people forced to go for appeals.
