Rs 3.64 crore! Parliamentary secretaries eat away at Karnataka's finances

Belagavi: A whopping Rs 3.64 crore of public money has been spent by the government over the last 16 months on the 12 parliamentary secretaries it has nominated, although they have very little to show in terms of work since assuming charge, claims RTI activist, Bheemappa Gadad.

Every parliamentary secretary is paid a salary of Rs 35,000, a house rent of Rs 80,000, fuel charges of Rs 75,910, a house maintenance allowance of Rs 20,000 and a guest maintenance allowance of Rs 16,666! But none of the secretaries have done any notable work although each has a personal secrerary, two PAs, a stenographer, two Class-D employees, drivers and other staff, according to the activist.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr Gadad said that not one of the secretaries had responded to his queries on the work they had done since being appointed.

"They have not held meetings of their respective departments since the time they assumed charge and so did not care to provide the information I sought from them under the Right to Information Act on the work they had done," he added, alleging that several secretaries also claimed allowances needlessly despite staying in the Legislators' Home.

"The state government is aware of precious funds being wasted by the parliamentary secretaries, but is doing little to monitor their duties," the activist regretted, wondering why it needed to appoint such secretaries when every government department already had senior IAS officers working as Principal Secretaries and Commissioners.

"The government must clarify whether the parliamentary secretaries are experts in the real sense and if they are capable of guiding their respective departments as they are expected to," he insisted.