UP is broke, but Cabinet wellfed

LUCKNOW, MARCH 17: Seems it doesn't matter that the Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh is bankrupt. Or that it's having trouble pay...

LUCKNOW, MARCH 17: Seems it doesn’t matter that the Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh is bankrupt. Or that it’s having trouble paying wages and PF to its staff. Its jumbo ministry has no reason to worry.

The state Government has reserved a fund of more than Rs 21 crore for the next financial year to ensure that its ministers get wages and other facilities regularly. The Finance department admits it was difficult to do this but says it was a “compulsion”.

So while there are austerity measures for staff, the ministers aren’t tied down by any restrictions. Out of a total sum of Rs 21.27 crore earmarked for upkeep of the huge ministry, a sum of Rs 27.31 lakh has been earmarked for the salaries of the ministers while a sum of Rs 1.49 crore has been reserved for welcoming guests of ministers and their supporters.

Story continues below this ad

A sum of Rs 5 crore has been put under the head of “expenditure to be incurred during tours” of different ministers while Rs 12 crore has been left as the ministers’ discretionaryfund.

A Finance Ministry official said that these days, while tour bills of staff normally take months to be cleared and that too after detailed verification, in the case of ministers, there are no questions asked. “Their bills come on a set form all it needs to get passed is the minister’s clout,” he said. We do not even get time to verify the details.”

The only problem the ministers face from the Treasury Department is when they need to get the bills of their official cars cleared. For, they have to give specific details of total distance travelled and the purpose of travel. The fuel bill, however, is cleared by the department the Minister heads so there’s rarely any delay.