Rs 1 lakh a day for Punjab CPSs’ fuel

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 7

Taking the exchequer virtually for a ride, the fuel bill of Punjab’s 21 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries is a staggering Rs 1 lakh a day.

According to the information obtained under the Right to Information Act, Punjab’s Transport Department paid Rs 4.66 crore in 18 months for the fuel bills of the 21 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries. The amount was paid between April, 2014, and October, 2015.

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Some of the CPSs spent Rs 2 lakh a month on fuel, which means the car they were using ran 600 to 800 km a day. Some CPSs have multiple cars.

Desh Raj Dugga, Shiromani Akali Dal MLA from Sri Hargobindpur, tops the list. He spent Rs 2 lakh a month on the fuel for the two cars provided to him by the government. He spent Rs 35 lakh on fuel in 18 months. 

He is followed by BJP MLA from Jalandhar (North) KD Bhandari, who spent Rs 33 lakh during the same period on his two cars. The Akali Dal MLA from Khem Karan, Virsa Singh Valtoha, spent Rs 29 lakh on one car.

The CPSs who spent the lowest on fuel during that period included SAD MLA from Balluana Gurtej Singh Gharyana (Rs 8.89 lakh), SAD MLA from Balachaur Chaudhary Nand Lal (Rs 9.73 lakh) and SAD MLA from Gurdaspur Gurbachan Singh (Rs 13 lakh).

When it comes to the limit of paying for the fuel bills of the CPSs, the state government has kept it open. It means they can be paid as much amount as they claim.

“One can very well imagine what kind of financial burden the CPSs are putting on the state’s exchequer,” said Dinesh Chadda, RTI activist from Ropar who is also in charge of the RTI cell of AAP.

In April, the government appointed six more CPSs, taking the total number of CPSs in the state to 24.