In the past two years, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has disbursed a whopping Rs 60 crore towards the expenditure of Raj Bhavan, the governor’s official residence where Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is currently residing.
Of Rs 60 crore, Rs 53.30 crore has already been spent, revealed the reply to an RTI filed by activist Anil Galgali, who pointed out that the expenses have increased by Rs 18 crore in the past two years.
Galgali had sought information from the Maharashtra government about the grant given to the Raj Bhavan. Subsequently, the general administration department provided him with the information of the lastfive years,included in the Budget Estimates.
According to the official reply, Rs 13.97 crore was provided in 2017-18, out of which Rs 12.49 crore was spent. The total provision for 2018-19 was Rs 15.84 crore, while Rs 13.71 crorewas spent.
In2019-20,the provision amount rose to Rs 19.86 crore and Rs 17.63 crore was spent. In 2020-21, Rs 29.50 crore was disbursed and Rs 25.92 crore spent, while Rs 31.38 crore was given for 2021- 22 and Rs 27.38 was spent by the Raj Bhavan.
"After the MVA came into power, more generosity was shown towards the governor's office,” Galgali curtly remarked, while demanding that the Raj Bhavan office should make public the information about the increased expenditure. Seeking an audit of the expenses, he has also written to Governor Koshyari, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his deputy Ajit Pawar.
