Siddaramaiah govt cares little for austerity, buys 63 posh cars

Belagavi: The  Siddaramaiah government clearly doesn’t believe in austerity. Since its inception it has spent a whopping Rs 9.34 crore on buying 63 luxury cars for the use of its ministers, senior officers and other VIPs and also spent another Rs 36.53 lakh merely on their repairs!

The new cars were bought despite hundreds already at the govenrment’s disposal in various departments, according to information provided in response to an RTI application by activist, Bheemappa Gadad.

Among the new cars are 55 Innovas ('7.90 crore), six Altis ('97.12 lakh), one Camry ('24.73 lakh) and one Fortuner ('21.97 lakh). A Fortuner SUV used by Mr Siddaramaiah, which made news for the crow that refused to get off it a few months ago, has also has been replaced.

Of the cars bought,  33  are being used by ministers, 22 by other VIPs and guests, seven by top bureaucrats and one by Chikkodi MP, Prakash Hukkeri.

Coming down hard on the government for such wasteful expenditure when the state was in the grip of a drought for years, Mr Gadad says he  plans to file a PIL in the Karnataka High Court questioning its spending on posh cars at regular intervals.“I will also ask the court  to order it to  rent cars from private agencies in future instead of wasting the taxpayers’ money this way,” he said.

Doing some investigation of his own, the activist found that the new cars soon needed repairs because they were often used by several supporters of those entitled to them.

The  response to his application also revealed the huge travel allowances claimed by elected representatives and officials. For travel in the air-conditioned cars, the VIPs have claimed an allowance of  Rs 19.50 per km and  for non-AC cars, Rs 14.50 per km. Ministers claimed even more, about Rs 30 per km.